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THE HEALTH REPORT OF COULSDON AND PURLEY
for 1945.
Cou 11
I ERIK REPORT.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In accordance with the instructions of the Ministry of
Health I beg' to present to you^ari. interim Report on the state of
the Public Health in this District during 1943 this being my
12th Annual Report as your Medical Officer of Health.
It will be noted that for the fourth year in succession
only an abbreviated report is being circulated in the interests
of public safety and paper economy, but, the full report having
been written and preserved each year, it is hoped that it will
not be long before a comprehensive report covering the war time
period will' be authorised.
Reviewing conditions during 1943 it can be said that the
general situation was very similar to that of 1942.
Comparatively little enemy air activity disturbed the life of the
community except, for a few isolated and heavier night raids
towards the end of the year. As. in the remainder of London,
further sections of the population, previously evacuated, returned,
while the steady drain into the Services and industry appeared to
slacken somewhat. In a district such as this there is always a
constant movement of an appreciable proportion of the population,
but life continued as normally as could be expected in war time,
diminishing the adverse environmental influences upon health.
In 1942 it was noted that the Birth Rate had suddenly
increased by a third over the average for the previous five years
and for the first time ???eeeded the national rate. In 1943
there was a further slight rise, this rate being still well above
that for the whole country, though not quite to such a marked
degree. Further modifications of the Maternity and Child Welfare
Services were called for as a result, some materialising during
the year but others being deferred until 1944.
The Maternal Mortality Rate was even lower than in the
preceding year and the Infant Mortality Rate, which had tended to
increase, fell in a gratifying manner to the lowest level since
the war began. It is hoped that it will .1 be possible to maintain
it at this lower level if all who have the care of babies take
every practicable step to keep them from the risks of infection,
especially those of a common and usually inoffensive character
With the removal of the younger and fitter sections
the population it was expected that the Death Rate would rise as
the remaining population gradually increased in age, but since
the initial rises of 1940 and 1941 there has been a slight
tendency for this rate to fall in the last two years.
It was also anticipated that the influence of war would
be to increase infectious disease and in some measure this has
been realised, although to nothing like the extent originally
thought probable. But for a very extensive wave of Scarlet Fever,
which was to be expected after a number of years of comparative
quiescence and which, fortunately, was of a mild type, the
position in the District in relation to infectious disease