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Fin 22
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To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the
Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury-
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have pleasure in submitting to you the following brief summary of the
work of the Public Health Department during 1941. In order to conserve
paper this includes a reference only to the most important features and for
reasons of security no statistics are given of the estimated population or
other figures from which this could be readily calculated. I have, however,
prepared a very full report for publication after the war, including a section
on the activities in connection with Shelter Health and it is hoped that this
will provide a very complete record of the work of the Department under war-time
conditions.
During the first five months of the year there were more or less continuous
air raids and in consequence many persons moved to other areas and large numbers
of those remaining in the borough spent the night-time in public air-raid shelters.
The effect of the. evacuation referred to lessened to some extent the work involved
in certain aspects of public health but at the same time the maintenance of public
health under war-time conditions introduced hew features and responsibilities.
The outstanding features of the year were the facts that, in spite of the war,
the general health of the population was maintained at a high level, and that
though the community was sleeping in public air-raid shelters to a very large extent,
there was a marked absence of epidemic disease.