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Cou 8
URBAN DISTRICT COUNCIL OF COULSDON AND PURLEY.
interim health report for 1940.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of
Health and with a view to economy, especially in the use of
paper, I beg to present to you an Interim Report on the state of
the Public Health of this District curing 1940, this being my
9th Annual Report as your Medical Officer of Health.
As in the case of the 1939 Report all records and
statistics for the year have been prepared in the usual way and
steps will be taken for their preservation, it being suggested
that at the termination of the war a report could be made
dealing more fully with the period during which hostilities have
occurred and giving separate statistics for each year in order
that the annual records should, as far as practicable, be
continuous and complete.
The year 1940 was the first complete year under war
time conditions and it is therefore more than usually
interesting to observe their effect on the health of residents.
The slight fall in the Birth Rate probably reflects
the very marked decrease in the population which has resulted
from the air attacks made on the London region.
The increased Death Rate is partly due to the number
of deaths caused by direct enemy action, but even if these are
excluded a slight rise has occurred. This is chiefly
attributable to an increase in the death rates from heart
disease and cerebral haemorrhage which have probably resulted
from the increased strain and stress of the war. The
Tuberculosis Death rate, which is one of the indices of the
general nutrition of the population, only slightly increased,
and considering the fluctuation to which it is liable in a
District of this size the rise is not sufficient to suggest any
deterioration in the nutrition of residents generally.
Contrary to expectations the number of cases of
infectious disease in the District as a whole was remarkably
low, but outbreaks in three institutions, two of them associated
with changes due to the War produced a higher incidence than
for several years.
Summarising it can be said that 1940 saw but little
change in the general nutrition and surprisingly little
infectious disease, but on the other hand the expectation of
life was slightly reduced not only from the risks attendant on
direct enemy action but also from the wearing effect of war
strain. While there is little statistical evidence of ill
health resulting from the effect of the air raids which were
experienced very frequently during the autumn and throughout
almost every night for the last four months of the year, apart
from the very small minority directly injured, they
undoubtedly had an effect if this was only largely psychological.
The result of the early raids was chiefly the
production of a state of mental depression, particularly a few
days after the raids were actually experienced, when it was
realised what lay ahead. This, combined with a state of
tension, was increased when night raiding commenced seriously,
partly due to lack of sleep. In many cases sleep was further
depleted when the barrage commenced, though some found this
reassuring. Hypersensitiveness to sounds, and particularly