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understood that much, additional work has been placed on the officers
of the Council's Maternity and Child Welfare service through these
activities as well as those of the new free and assisted milk scheme
and the more recently introduced distribution of vitamin enriched
accessories to diet.
'*
Health Conditions: The health of the City remained during
1940 remarkably good. It is difficult to assess the value of
statistics in a resident population which does not for long remain
static, but these are based on the figures supplied by the Registrar
General; Death rate, crude 17.4 (adjusted 17.5) per 1,000. The figure
in London is 17.8.
Owing to evacuation, the number of births is lower than ever.
The birth rate is slightly higher than in the two previous years, but
in view of the fluctuations in population the difference is not significant.
The Infant Mortality figure, 44.6 per thousand births, is
higher than in 1939 but considerably lower than in 1938, and below the
rate for London as a whole.
The incidence of infectious disease was surprisingly low,
even when one takes the evacuation of children into account. There
were no deaths from measles, whooping cough, diphtheria, scarlet fever
or enteric fever. Six out of forty-two cases of cerebro-spinal
meningitis were fatal, and there were twenty two deaths from pneumonia.
The death rate from tuberculosis, .83 per thousand, is above
the average for the last ten years, but is the same as in 1939 when the
effects of war had not had time to influence this figure. There seems
some evidence that the incidence of tuberculosis has increased throughout
the country since the outbreak of war. The experience of the last
war would lead one to expect some increase as a result of changes
affecting both nutriment and conditions of employment. Except in the
very early days of the war, there has been no decrease in the facilities
for the treatment of tuberculosis.
I have the honour to be,
Your obedient Servant,
ANDREW J, SHINNIE.