[Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Sandwich Borough & Port.

  • Sandwich (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1948
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1948] / Medical Officer of Health, Sandwich Borough & Port. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/20 (page 2)
    Of these deaths, congenital mal-development account¬ ed for 50%. Although much can be done to save the premature Ghild, little can be done to rectify! nature’s defects in the mal-developed infant. Infectious Diseases: For the fourth year in succession the incidence of Zymotic disease was low—31 cases of Whooping Cough and 11 cases of Measles being notified. For the past eight years not a single case of diphtheria has occurred in the Borough. Diphtheria notifications throughout the whole country for the year 1948 were the lowest ever recorded, being 47,000 below the average 55,000 obtaining in the ten-year period 1931-1940. The mortality figure also showed a marked decline, only 150 deaths having been recorded as compared with 2,480 in the year 1940. This phenomenal result I consider a great tribute to the success of the immunising campaign started in 1940 in an attempt to combat this serious menace to the health of the population. At the end of the year the percentage of immunised children under 15 years of age in the Borough was 69.92. General: With my Report is incorporated the Report of the Sanitary Inspector—Mr. T. Douglas—on the Sanitary circumstances in the Borough. As usual, it shows the efficient and thorough manner with which he performs his duties, and I take this annual opportunity to express my indebtedness and thanks for his valuable assistance and co-operation. To my clerk—Miss Lawrence—I desire to express my gratitude for her help in the compilation of this Report. T. J. NICHOLL, Medical Officer of Health. August, 1949.