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AC4366
BET 49
Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Bethnal Green, E.2.
July, 1945.
To the Mayor, Aldermen & Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I submit herewith the last of my brief interim wartime
reports on the health of the Borough and the work of the Public
Health Department in respect of 1944. The Ministry of Health
will no doubt request in due course a full report on the health
of the Borough during the war years but meantime to enable the
Council to note some of the changes which have taken place
comparative figures for recent years are included.
VITAL STATISTICS
As I have indicated in earlier reports, the considerable
alteration in the age and sex composition of the population, as
well as its reduction in number, render the calculation and'
interpretation of vital statistics somewhat difficult. It should
be borne in mind that the following wartime figures relate solely
to the civilian population of the borough.
Death rate
Infant death rate
Birth rate
maternal mortality rate
1936-8
average
12.2
70
13.7
1.9
1939
11.5
51
12.8
1.7
1940
20.1
50
15.1
Nil
1941
20.5
62
17.0
1.5
1942
14.8
46
19.3
1.0
20.2
70.3
18.7
2.2
1944
17.9
72.1
17.8
1.1
The Registrar-General has given 48,280 as his estimate of
the civilian population in 1944.
MATERNITY MP CHILD WELFARE
It will be noted that the volume of work in this important
branch of the Council's activities has been much reduced. War
circumstances are chiefly responsible for this but it has also to
be remembered that owing, to the absence of recruitment the age
level of the Health Visiting staff is much higher than before the
war and that our Welfare Centre accommodation is of a very
inadequate and unattractive character. The return of more mothers
and children from evacuation makes it very urgent to bring this
service at least up to its pre-war standard, while plans are being
made for the more substantial improvements which are hoped for as
a part of post-war reconstruction.