View report page

3
Borough of Mitcham
HEALTH REPORT FOR 1952
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have much pleasure in submitting my annual report for
the year 1952.
The general health in the Borough has been good, and most
of the statistics compare very favourably with those for England
and Wales. There was no outbreak of infectious disease to cause
special alarm. The infectious diseases notifications were much
reduced because of the great reduction in measles, which was
exceptionally large the year before, and to a less extent with
whooping cough.
Poliomyelitis affected four people, but they were fairly mild
cases. Very much on the preventive side for the third year in
succession, there was no case of diphtheria, and only two in the
past six years, whereas before that cases averaged sixty per year.
It was pleasing to note that deaths from tuberculosis were
the lowest on record, the death rate being 0.19 per 1,000 population,
compared with 0.33 last year and 0.24 for England and
Wales. The figures for this industrial area are not usually as
favourable.
The sixteen cases of dysentery were mostly single cases
diagnosed on clinical grounds, not confirmed bacteriologically.
The birth rate of 13.57, after correction by the comparability
factor to correspond with the average age and sex grouping of
the whole population, becomes 12.62, which compares with 15.3
for England and Wales.