[Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council.

  • Essex (England). County Council.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/138 (page 6)
    PREFACE. To the Chairman and Members of the Essex County Council. I have the honour to submit to you my Eighteenth Annual Report for the Administrative County of Essex for the year 1936. This is the 47th Annual Report which has been issued. The estimated population at mid-year 1936 was 1,344,460, being an estimated increase of 26,560. There was a slight increase in the number of births during 1936, the figure being 19,516 (14.5), as compared with 18,807 (14.3) in 1935. The birth-rate for England and Wales is 14.8 and 14.7 respectively. The lowest rate (9.9) recorded in the County was in the Saffron Walden Borough, and the West Mersea Urban District, and the highest (20.2) was in the Hornchurch Urban District. In one Municipal Borough, eight Urban Districts and five Rural Districts, the birth-rate was lower than the death-rate. An increase is also recorded in the deaths from 12,531 in 1935 (9.5) to 13,369 in 1936 (9.9). Comparative figures for England and Wales also showed an increase from 11.7 to 12.1. Figures for heart disease (3,398) and cancer (1,945) are again the highest shown in the Table “ Causes of Death ”—-see page 125. The figure for heart disease is the highest ever recorded in the County ; in ten years it has increased from 1,800 to 3,398. The number of deaths of infants under one year of age per 1,000 births increased from 820 (44) in 1935 to 954 (49) in 1936, the rates for England and Wales being respectively 57 and 59. The highest rate (98) was in the Canvey Island Urban District, the. lowest (12) being in the Halstead Rural District. The Administrative County was again free from small-pox during the year, and there was a further reduction in the number of notifications of infectious diseases from 8,913 in 1935 to 8,083 in 1936, due to a decrease in the number of cases of diphtheria and scarlet fever. For the first time a section on “ Dental Treatment ” has been introduced into the Annual Report—see page 22. It was felt that there should be some special record of the increasing use which is being made of the services of the whole-time Dental Surgeons, ( (whose main duties are the inspection and treatment of schoolchildren), for the treat- ment of patients falling within the purview of Public Health and Public Assistance, i Attention is drawn to the report furnished by the Senior Dental Surgeon (Mr. S. K. i Donaldson, L.D.S.), upon the prevalence of “ Mottled Teeth ” in the Maldon and Rochford areas. Increased facilities, particularly in regard to the examination of samples of milk and water, were made available in the County Laboratory Service from 1st April, 1936. In consequence, Dr. John F. Beale, the Bacteriologist for Essex, states iu hiss] Annual Report, which is reproduced on pages 24 to 35, that 4,098 more specimens