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5
Metropolitan Borough of Hackp
REPORT OF THE MEDICAL OFFICER OF HEALTH
FOR THE YEAR 1940.
Public Health Department,
Town Hael, Hackney, E.8.
To the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors
of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney.
Ministry of Health Circular No. 2314, dated 26th March, 1941,
requests that the Annual Reports of Medical Officers of Health for
the year 1940 be prepared on abridged lines as was done in the
previous year. This Report, therefore, contains only such statistics
and other material as is necessary to afford an indication of the
health of the population and the maintenance of the health services
under war conditions.
Although the number of births of live children to Hackney
women fell from 2,732 in 1939 to 2,565 in 1940, the reduction in the
population as estimated by the Registrar-General resulted in an
improvement in the birth-rate from 13.1 to 15.2. This rate compares
favourably with the rates for England and Wales and London,
which were 14.6 and 13.7 respectively. On the other hand, the
position as regards the number of deaths was not so satisfactory.
Deaths of Hackney residents in 1939 numbered 2,223, and in 1940
rose to 2,788. This was almost entirely due to an increase in the
number of deaths from violence, under which head deaths resulting
from enemy action are classified. There was, however, a considerable
increase in the deaths from bronchitis, many of which were
possibly due to the extraordinary conditions under which the
population lived in the last quarter of the year when the Borough