[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Swadlincote U.D.C.

  • Swadlincote (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Swadlincote U.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/52 (page 3)
    ANNUAL REPORT OF MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH FOR YEAR 1954. To the Chairman and Members of the Swadlincote Urban District Council. Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present my Annual Report for the year 1954. Because of the altered and improved conditions in which we now live, together with the dramatic advances of Medical Science, the general health of the people gives real cause for satisfaction. During the year there was no serious outbreak of infectious disease, and it is particularly gratifying to be able to report that there were no notified cases of polio in the District at all. Once again the statistics for Diphtheria have achieved new record low figures, as reference to the table in body of the report will show. No one would of course claim that the national immunisation campaign was the one and only cause of the decline in cases and deaths, but the campaign was well timed, for it coincided with a natural but small decline in the disease and with the general improve¬ ment of the social and financial circumstances of the people. I do most earnestly beseech parents to have their children immunised, although the cases are so few, and not to be lulled into a sense of false security. As parents, we have a duty and obligation not only to our own children but to our neighbours’ children. This Council has important powers and duties in regard to environmental hygiene, of which housing is of prime importance. Bad housing can be the breeding grounds of disease, as is so obvious in tuberculosis, and so the Council’s house building can make a very considerable contribution towards the prevention of physical and mental disease. I well know that the Chest Physicians, like myself, are deeply grateful for the Council’s keen interest in the re-housing of tuberculous families. Once again it is a great pleasure to acknowledge my indebtedness to the Chairman and Members of the Council, Medical Practitioners, Health Visitors, Heads of Departments and Staff and above all to the Staff of the Health Department, especially the Chief Sanitary Inspector and Housing Officer. I am. Your obedient Servant, MALCOLM ALLAN, Medical Officer of Health. Public Health Department, Council Offices, SWADLINCOTE.