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(1)
BOROUGH OF MALDEN AND COOMBS
ANNUAL REPORT
OF
THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
1965
Public Health Department,
Municipal Offices,
New Maiden.
July, 1964
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Borough of Maiden and Coombe.
Lady and Gentlemen,
I have the honour to submit my Annual Report for the year 1963
which has been prepared in accordance with the Ministry of Health Circular
1/64.
Preparatory work for the implementation of the London Government Act
of 1962 has involved, among other things, a certain amount of examination
of old files and records, including annuax reports as far back as 1897.
While there is little merit in reminiscence for nostalgia's sake, even a
cursory study of these old reports illustrates the progress which has been
made in the promotion of community health and offers encouragement to the
tasks which confront us today. Our predecessors have acted with fair
success in controlling those factors in the environment which were harmful
to health even though their knowledge of the cause was incomplete and in some
cases, incorrect.
Although the diseases have changed, the pattern of preventive work
remains the same. We should not curtail the application of such knowledge
as we have concerning the prevention of disease because the cause is not yet
fully understood. The known facts can be used to control those features of