View report page

3
PUBLIC HEALTH DEPARTMENT,
TOWN HALL, HACKNEY, E.8.
September, 1959.
To His Worship the Mayor and to the Aldermen and
Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,,
I have the honour to present my Annual Report on the health and sanitary
circumstances of the Borough for the year 1958. This is the one hundred and
third Report in the series of health reports submitted to this local authority,
and is the seventh which it has been my privilege to present.
Statistics, The mid-year population of the Borough as estimated by the
Registrar General was 163,400 persons, 1,600 fewer than in 1957. Deaths from
all causes totalled 1,791 as compared with 1,818 in the previous year; there
were 920 male deaths and 871 female deaths. The crude death rate per thousand
of the population for the Borough was 10 96, whilst the corresponding rate for
England and Wales was 117. The "area comparabili ty factor" is a means of
making allowances for the age and sex distribution of the population, and after
the application of this factor, the corrected rate is a more accurate one for
comparison with other areas in the year under review the "factor" of 1.10
gave a corrected rate for Hackney of 12.06. The corrected rate for the
previous year was 12.23
Live births to the number of 2.787 giving a birth rate of 17.06 per
thousand of the population were registered, whilst the rate for England and
Wales was 16.4 the corrected birth rate for Hackney, following the application
of the appropriate "area comparability factor" of 0.93 was 15.86, as compared
with a corrected rate of 14.73 for 1957. Infants under one year to the number
of 56 died, resulting in an infantile mortality rate per thousand live births
of 20.09, the corresponding rate for England and Wales was 22.6.
It is a very real pleasure to be able to record the absence of any deaths
from causes associated with pregnancy and childbirth. The maternal mortality
rate for Hackney was, therefore, nil, whilst that for England and Wales was 0.43.
Malignant disease- Malignant disease was responsible for 357 deaths as
compared with 416 in the previous year this gives a death rate for cancer of
2.18 per thousand of the population, as compared with a rate of 2.12 for
England and Wales. Malignant disease of the lung and bronchus claimed 98
deaths, giving a rate of 0.60 per thousand of the population for Hackney,
against a rate of 0 64 for the County of London, and a rate of 0.44 for England
and Wales. Much thought was given to the need for bringing to the notice of
the public, and particularly adolescents, the now more or less generally
accepted relationship between cancer of the lung and heavy smoking. Health
education of this type is regarded as primarily being the responsibility of the
Local Health Authority, but this Department did co operate fully in the matter
with the County Council's Divisional Health staff. In the distribution of its
own health education material the Department has made a direct approach to
general practitioners in the borough
Accidental deaths. Twenty persons lost their lives as a result of motor
vehicle accidents, and of that number eleven were aged 65 years and over.
Accidents from other causes accounted for 31 deaths, and 13 of these occurred
in the home.
Infectious disease. The incidence of serious infectious disease was again
low. Excluding tuberculosis, some 1,656 notifications were received, including