[Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Northumberland County Council.

  • Northumberland (England). County Council
Date:
1949
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1949] / Medical Officer of Health, Northumberland County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/116 (page 7)
    To the Chairman and Members of the Northumberland County Council. Mr. Chairman, My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present the Annual Report for 1949, and I would draw attention to several points of great interest. The infantile mortality rate, the still birth rate and the maternal mortality rate all reached lower levels than ever recorded before in the County. The death rate from tuberculosis fell to the lowest level recorded during this century. For the second year there was no death from diphtheria, and fewer deaths were caused by measles and whooping cough than ever before. These new low records reflect the success of all those engaged in the care of mothers and children. The advances in all fields connected with maternity and child health have improved the outlook in recent years almost beyond recognition, and there is reason to hope that progress will go further yet. In the held of tuberculosis, the declining death rate does not seem accurately to reflect as yet the amount of illness and incapacity caused by the disease, as an increase was again recorded in the number of new cases coming to light during the year. There is every reason to hope that the advances in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis will ultimately reduce the incidence as well as the mortality from this disease by preventing the early case progressing to the chronic infectious state. This is the last of the preventable diseases to carry off large numbers of young people each year, and it calls for a great effort to provide the necessary beds for infectious cases, to protect susceptibles by B.C.G. vaccine and to achieve reasonable housing conditions for affected families. Such efforts could well reap a rich reward. It must be noted that despite the reduction in mortality from these causes the general death rate for the County increased slightly. These low mortality rates were recorded in conditions which take their toll in the earlier years of life. It is possible only to postpone death to later years, and the conse¬ quence of such postponement is that the diseases of old age claim more victims. The increasing age of the population has led to a steady increase in the number of deaths from diseases of the