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average attendance of 40 and 354 sessions at ante-natal
and post-natal clinics, with an average attendance of 11.5.
During the year an additional Assistant Medical Officer for
Maternity and Child Welfare services was appointed,
making the total number then engaged three, and an additional
appointment was made to the staff of health visitors,
bringing the total number engaged to eight.
As a result of the depletion of the staff of Sanitary
Inspectors in the early days of the war, it was only possible
for essential work such as investigations into cases of
infectious diseases, complaints. &c., to be undertaken. All
inspections under the Housing Act were suspended, and
much of the routine work had to be left in abeyance. In
the early part of the year under review some members of
the staff who had been engaged on Civil Defence were
recalled to their normal duties, and an endeavour was
made to restart the ordinary machinery of the department.
Inspections under the Housing Act in connection
with reconditioning of houses and underground rooms
were recommenced, and two temporary Sanitary Inspectors
were appointed to assist with the work in place of
some of the permanent Inspectors still engaged on Air Raid
Precautions. When intensive raiding started towards the
end of the year this work had to be discontinued once
again.
The verv heavy air raids during the last four months of
the year caused large numbers to spend evenings and
nights in public shelters or in their own private shelters,
and this introduced a number of problems connected with
hygiene of the shelters and comfort of the shelterers. At
one time the nightly public shelter population reached the
figure of 0.000.
Despite the abnormal conditions the health of the population
was good, and no outbreaks of infectious diseases
were recorded.
As in previous vears close attention was paid to the
supervision of food supplies. Of 840 samples taken under