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3
COUNCIL OFFICES,
HORNCHURCH,
1st June, 1944.
To the Chairman and Members of the
Hornchurch Urban District Council.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The report for the year 1943 now presented for your consideration
is abbreviated in conformity with the suggestions contained in
circular letters 2773 and 10/44 from the Ministry of Health.
Full records for each of the last four years, including the figures
supplied by the Registrar General, will be preserved, so that at the
termination of hostilities a report may be prepared dealing more fully
with the vital statistics of the war period.
During the year under review, the general health of the
inhabitants of the District was maintained at a high level. The birth
rate remains higher than that for England and Wales, the reason
being that the District contains a larger number of young people
than the average for the whole Country.
A wave of Influenza appeared in the last quarter of the year,
but on the whole the cases were not of the severe type which has
occurred in some previous epidemics, and deaths were not numerous.
My thanks are due to the members of the Council for the
support which I have received from them in the execution of my
work. I also wish to put on record the assistance which I have
received from the Public Health staff and from my fellow officers in
all Departments.
ALFRED BALL, M.D., D.P.H.,
Medical Officer of Health.