View report page

Public Health Department,
Town Hall,
Upper Street, N.1,
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the Metropolitan Borough of Islington.
I beg to submit the Annual Report for 1941, which is again an interim
statement. Dr. G. Clark Trotter, my predecessor, whose retirement was mentioned in
the Annual Report for 1940, retired at the end of February 1941, and my responsibility
for the Public Health Department is therefore for the last ten months of the year.
In accordance with instructions received, total population figures are
not quoted, but the birth rate is slightly loss than lost year, whilst the death
rate is somewhat higher. The rate of deaths from puerperal causes shows a
considerable increase on 1940, although the total numbers are small. The infant
mortality rate, at 59 per 1,000 live births, is an increase upon the previous year,
which was exceptionally low, but it is of some interest to note that total
maternal mortality and infant mortality rates in Islington for both 1940 and 1941
are very close for both years to the corresponding rates for the whole of London.
It should also be noted that deaths from other violent causes include
those due to enemy action.
In common with other areas, the rate of increase of the mortality and
occurrence of now cases of tuberculosis gives some cause for concorn. In
proportion to the population, there wore 40$ more now cases of pulmonary tuberculosis
in 1941 than in 1938, and 23$ more non-pulmonary cases. The death rates from
pulmonary tuberculosis showed an increase of 67$ and non-pulmonary tuberculosis
of 55% for the same years.
Those increases in both incidence and mortality no doubt reflect in part
population changes due to call-up for the Armed Forces, but the general trond3
unfortunately repeat the experiences of the last war. Among the factors which
may be responsible for this deterioration are increased strain duo to long hours
of work, restricted facilities for holiday and recreation, blackout and poor
ventilation, local overcrowding, shelter life during the 'blitz' period with
disturbance of normal hours of sleep and rest, and food restrictions. It is not
possible at present to express any accurate opinion on the relative importance of
those factors.
Additional work and responsibilities were placed upon the Department
during the year arising out of the introduction of the Government's scheme for
Wartime Nurseries. The first Wartime Nursery in the Borough, for 50 children, was
opened towards the and of 1941 at the Council's pre-war nursery in Scholefield Road,
and a number of other nursories wore also projected and opened later, of which
mention will be made in the 1942 Report,
Owing to the increase in scabies and verminous conditions, a scheme for
the extension of the Council's Cleansing Station was submitted and approved. The
scheme doubles the Council's existing facilities.
The main features of Infectious Diseases (apart from tuberculosis) to bo
recorded for 1941 are very considerable increases in both whooping cough and measles.
The number of cases of dysentery also showed a marked rise. The Islington
(Chicken-pox) Regulations 1930 wore rescinded by the Minister of Health, so that
chickon-pox is no longer notifiable in Islington.
With regard to Diphtheria Immunisation, clinic activities partially
suspended during the earlier part of the war were recornmonced in January 1941, and
there was nearly a fourfold increase in attendances over the best pre-war year, in
spite of the smaller child population. This was very satisfactory, but still
insufficient materially to affect the general incidence of diphtheria in the
Borough.
P.T.O.