London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972

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Beddington and Wallington 1944

[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Beddington and Wallington]

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assigned as being from "other maternal causes" in accordance with the
manual of the International List of the Causes of Death.
The rate of 2.07 per thousand total births is therefore misleading
and does not represent a true picture of the maternal mortality in
the Borough. For statistical purposes this figure must still stand but
in reality the Borough can be congratulated on having no maternal
deaths for the year under review.
INFANTILE MORTALITY.
Of a total of 468 live births, only 10 deaths of infants under one
year of age were registered. Of these, 3 were males and 7 females,
all being legitimate children. This gives the low infantile mortality
rate of 21.36 per thousand live births, as compared with 32.85 in 1943
and 46.00 for England and Wales.
The district is to be congratulated on an exceptionally low figure
for infantile mortality. This figure is often taken as an index of the
general health and prosperity of the district as a whole. It is much
lower than the figure for England and Wales, and represents the results
of the labours of all services dealing with the preservation of infant life,
GENERAL PROVISION OF HEALTH SERVICES
FOR THE AREA.

LABORATORY FACILITIES.

There have been no changes in the arrangements for the examination of swabs, sputa and other pathological material:—

Specimens examined.Totals.Positive.Negative.
Diphtheria—Routine examination of swabs for local practitioners55253
Tuberculosis—(Sputa)16115
Enteric Group:—
Faeces22
Blood11
Dysentery—(Faeces)11
Totals75471

The Medical Officer of Health's laboratory in the Town Hall, commenced
in 1937, continues to fill a very important role in ensuring a
high standard of bacteriological purity in the milk and water supplies
of the district.
The scope of the routine work carried out is illustrated in the
following table:—
15