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3
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1943.
Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I beg to submit my 1943 Annual Report, which is largely
statistical in its contents.
The vital statistics for the year under review are satisfactory.
The health of the people has been maintained at a
reasonably high level. The Infantile Mortality Rate is at the
low level of 27. There were no deaths of mothers due to
pregnancy or confinement. A Death Rate of 11.7 compares with
an average of 13.5. for the last five years, whilst the Birth Rate
has increased to 17.5 compared with an average of 13.3 for the
five pre-war years. There were no unusual epidemics.
The routine work of maternity and child welfare services,
school clinics, dental and all special clinics have continued rA
a pre-war level, and in some cases show a strong tendency to
come into increased general use by the public.
This brief summary is a pleasing result of the hard and
enthusiastic work put in by all the staff of the Department
wring past years.
The establishment of two war-time nurseries has added
a useful and interesting work to our services.
The Infantile Mortality Rate, a fairly sound indication
of the health of the people and of the efficiency of the local
Health Services, is of special interest. The average rate for the
war years 1939/1943 is 27.6 per 1,000 births compared with 40.6
for the pre-war years 1934/1938.
The general trend of the development of the services in
health is towards the care of the family as a unit, and away
from the treatment of the individual. It is a fact proved by
many social researches that one will find health where the
familiy has financial security. There is an ever increasing and
apparent desire for the local community to take an interest
and responsibility in the development of the health services.
This essential, and should be encouraged, if we are to
obtain the full benefit from our efforts; no administrative
change must be allowed to interfere with it.
If we accept the principle that the family is a unit, it
follows that must seek for any defects in the environment
in which that family lives, works and plays, and the greatest
of these factors is the family home. On reference, to statistical
tables under the Housing Section of this Report, one is able to
extract certain aspects of the home life into which young babies
were born in 1943. The figures are extracted from 450