View report page

3
HEALTH SERVICES,
This Annual Report has of necessity to be merely a summary
of the main features of the vital statistics and of the health Services
of the Borough for 1940. Most notable has been the resumption
during the year of the whole of the Maternity and Child Welfare
and of the School Medical Services.
The general death rate is higher than in the previous nine
years, due mainly to the effects of enemy air raids. As a set-off,
so to speak, against this high rate, the infant mortality has been
remarkably low, 43 per thousand births, in fact, the lowest in the
history of the Borough, while the birth-rate has remained steady,
14.7 compared with 14.8 for 1939 and 14.9 for 1938.
Maternal Mortality, though not the lowest recorded is the next
lowest, 1.74 compared with the lowest 0.93 in 1936.
Only 33 cases of diphtheria and 116 cases of scarlet fever
were notified during the year, easily the lowest number of each
of these diseases for ten years.
There has been no evidence during the year of any adverse
effects, either on the physical or mental state of the children,
of war conditions. The nutritional state of the children, as ascertained
on routine school medical inspection, has been found to be
not different from pre-war years. Uncleanliness, or verminous condition,
has not increased, in fact, the percentage of unclean children,
3.0, is the same as the average for the previous 4 years. This means
that 97 per cent. of the children in the Ealing Schools can be said
to be free from vermin, a most satisfactory result of medical
supervision.
Scabies, which began to be more prevalent in 1937, has been
encouraged in its spread by the family conditions associated with
the war and has shown an increased prevalence amongst school
children and the community in general. In fact, its control is one
of the present day public health problems.
The work of the whole of the public health staff, varied as it
has been by the imposition of new and onerous duties associated
with the war, has been uniformly carried out with such devotion
as to deserve sincere and grateful acknowledgement.