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6
was subjected to heavy and constant air-raids. The crude deathrate
was 16.5, and the adjusted rate 17.8. The latter rate should
be used in making comparisons with the rates for England and
Wales and London which were 14.3 and 17.8. Only 96 deaths of
children under the age of 12 months occurred during the year, giving
an infant mortality rate of 40.2 per 1,000 live births as compared
with rates of 55 for England and Wales and 50 for London.
Despite the trying conditions, all the facilities provided
under the Council's scheme for maintaining the health of mothers
and young children were kept fully available throughout the year.
It is an interesting fact that the attendances of expectant mothers
at the Council's Ante-natal Clinics increased from 2,920 in 1939
to 3,371 in 1940. The attendances of children under the age of
5 years were, however, very considerably reduced, but this can be
readily explained by the evacuation of young children from the
Borough. Before the war the number of children in Hackney under
the age of 5 years was somewhere in the region of 14,500 whereas,
at the time of writing (August, 1941), there are only approximately
4,700 children of this age group remaining in the Borough.
The large reduction in the child population is doubtless
responsible for the very considerable decline in the incidence of the
common infectious diseases. Nevertheless, the absence of epidemics
is truly remarkable when one considers the appalling conditions
under which so many people, including small children, herded into
public air-raid shelters night after night during the later months
of 1940. These conditions gave rise to very considerable apprehension,
and energetic measures were taken to secure the immunisation
of children against diphtheria.
This Council has pursued an active policy in connection with
diphtheria immunisation since 1928 and it is not unlikely that the
work which has been done in this connection throughout the years
since that date has played a part in controlling the disease. Only
57 cases of diphtheria occurred during the year, and there were only
121 cases of scarlet fever.
The table given on page 24 of this Report shows how very
satisfactory the attack rates for the various diseases were in comparison
with London and the country as a whole.
The number of cases of tuberculosis notified for the first time
during the year was 223 as compared with 247 in the previous year.
It is interesting to note that in no year since the introduction of
compulsory notification have so few primary notifications been
received in this Borough.