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1.
METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF STOKE NEWINGTON.
Public Health Department,
Town Hall, N.16.
12th December, 1940.
To the Mayor, Alderman and Councillors.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Following upon the instructions of the Ministry of
Health, an abridged report only of the Health of the Borough
for the year 1939 is herewith submitted.
It is hoped that after the war, it will be possible
to publish a complete report reviewing the conditions of the
previous years.
It is to be noted that the Infantile Mortality rate
of 28.2 in 1939, as compared with 43.2 in 1938, was the lowest
yet recorded in the borough, - but it is not to be anticipated
that such improvements can recur when the conditions under which
large numbers of the inhabitants of this Borough are now living
are taken into consideration.
The epidemic of measles which was anticipated in
London, did not materalise in the winter of 1939.
The wartime health services of the Borough were well
maintained during the year, and the attendances at the Clinics
although falling for the first few weeks of the war soon rose,
and in some cases exceeded the figures for the corresponding
period during the previous year.
It is noteworthy that although 89 families were living
in overcrowded conditions at the beginning of the year, this
number had been reduced to 3 at the end of the year.
At the time of writing (December, 1940) our great concern
is with the public shelters and with the measures to be taken
to attempt to prevent the spread of disease in them. We
have to face the problem of men and women, living in close contact
with one another in underground rooms, who have not removed
their clothes for weeks, and who live a life alternating between
the streets, their work and the public shelters. It is under
these conditions that disease thrives, but up to the present,
we have had no epidemic or spread of disease attributable to
these shelters.
Active measures are being taken by the Ministry of
Health and the Emergency Committee to deal with these problems.
A considerable proportion of the time of the staff of
the Public Health Department is now taken up with Air Raid Precautions
duties, and I should like to express my most sincere
thanks for the splendid way they have responded to all the calls
made upon them.
S. KING.
Medical Officer of Health.