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7
BOROUGH OF BROMLEY.
Report of the Medical Officer of Health
for the year 1942.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my 18th Annual Report on the
Health Services of the Borough for the year 1942. It
is still to be regarded as an abridged and interim report
during war-time restrictions.
A glance at the health statistics of the area for 19-12
discloses very few causes of sickness and invalidity. The
low incidence of serious infectious disease is gratifying,
and no points of interest arise for special comment.
It says much for the Health Services of the pre-war
years that we have withstood so well the stress and strain
of four years of war. There are positive signs of
improving health of the population; the physique of the
young baby and of the child at school show actual
improvement.
The vital statistics with low Death Bate, increasing
Birth Rate and low Infantile and Maternal Mortality
Rates, and the comparative absence of subacute infectious
disease, are indications of sound health. The
reasons are not far to seek; improved financial circumstances
of the family and the absence of poverty; the
balanced dietary imposed by food control; increased service
of meals at school, but perhaps above all an
individual urge to be fit in order to win the war. There
are, however, certain signs on the debit side; an increased
occurrence of antenna in the leaver group at schools; an
increase in dental decay in school-children, and an increase
in skin complaints. These may be signs of
deficiency, but there are other factors to be considered,
the lowering of the standard of environment, the disrepair
of houses, the shortage of houses, overcrowding into
houses are matters not to be dealt with by placid intoler-