DIPTHERIA virtually abolished, polio contained by routine vaccination, and the lowest infant mortality rate on record, were the highlights of a Lancashire health report in 1969.
But the county’s Minister of Health Mr S Gawne reported two blemishes for the year – an upward trend in illegitimacy and chronic diseases, which were the the main causes of death among the population.
He commented: “It is perhaps in the realm of the so-called chronic diseases that a breakthrough would be most welcome and I see two basic needs; one is prompt diagnosis and the other is improved health education.”
He admitted the illegitimacy rate in Lancashire in 1968 had been the highest on record since the Second World War.
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