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As a contribution to the "grow more food" campaign, the farming activities
of the department have been very greatly extended, and some 6,000 acres are now
under cultivation.
It has been possible in this short review to bring to notice only the more striking
features of a year in which all the peace-time work of a great and complex department
continued unabated, and to which were added many new duties, often accompanied by
anxieties and difficulties occasioned by the war. The work of a public health
department is very largely "taken for granted." It is only when it fails that public
interest is really aroused. It is a tribute to the staff of the department that, despite
the unprecedented calls made upon them during the past few years, each has played
his (and very largely her) part to respond to the call of duty and ensure that this vital
service runs smoothly and efficiently.
It is with pleasure that I record the award of the O.B.E. to Dr. P. J. Watkin,
medical superintendent of Lambeth Hospital, and of the British Empire Medal to
Mrs. Hilda L. Watts, station officer in the Auxiliary Ambulance Service.
Population
VITAL STATISTICS
The Registrar-General estimated the resident population of the county to be
4,062,800 at the middle of 1938. Exceptional movements of population have
taken place since the outbreak of war, and it is considered inadvisable to give rates
per 1,000 of the population. Actual figures of births and civilian deaths are alone
given. To assist in their interpretation it can be stated that the population of London
though much smaller than before the war, remained comparatively stable during
1942, and the numbers shown below for 1941 and 1942 are roughly comparable.
Favourable features of the vital statistics are the smaller number of deaths, the
recovery in the number of births and the reductions in the infant and neo-natal
mortality rates, which have returned almost to the immediate pre-war level.
Mortality from the common infectious diseases was light, and deaths from
respiratory disease were relatively low.
So far as morbidity is concerned, there was a substantial reduction in notifications
of cerebro-spinal fever, enteric fever and diphtheria. For measles, 1942 was
not a typical inter-epidemic year, probably owing to the continued movement of
children to, but more especially from, reception areas. A temporary resurgence
of measles occurred in the middle of the year. Pneumonia notifications were lower
than in 1941. The incidence of whooping-cough was lower. The rise in scarlet fever
notifications is almost wholly a reflection of the increase in the child population.
There was a rise in notifications of dvsenterv.