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REPORT
of the Medical Officer of Health
for the Year 1940.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth.
Sir, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to present my Annual Report on the health of the
Borough for the year 1940, including an account of the Health
Services administered by the Council and incorporating the
Report of the Public Analyst.
The health of the Borough during the year has been good
and apart from the effects of enemy air activity there has been
no undue increase in mortality calling for special comment.
Actually in some respects the reverse is the case. There has
been a marked reduction in the number of the common infectious
diseases of childhood with a corresponding fall in the number
of deaths. The bi-ennial epidemic of measles due in the winter
of 1939-1940 never materialised. The infantile mortality was
45 per 1,000 births, the lowest ever recorded. It is reasonable
to assume that this reduction in the incidence of disease in childhood
is a direct result of the evacuation of many children into
country areas during the early part of the war.
On the other hand, there were 816 more deaths of Borough
residents than in the previous year. Much of this increase is
accounted for by deaths from enemy action, 500 persons having
died from this cause during the year, but there has also been an
increased number of deaths from cancer, tuberculosis and diseases
of the respiratory system.
According to the Registrar General's estimate, the population,
on which the birth and death rates are calculated, shows a reduction
of over 68,000 on the previous year, an effect produced
by evacuation and enlistment in the Forces. Calculated on this
reduced population, both the birth rate and the death rate are
shown as materially higher than they have been in recent years,
but it is as well not to place too much reliance on these statistics