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4
The Maternity and Child Welfare activities of the Council were
fully maintained during the year and attendances at the various
clinics remained at a satisfactory level; indeed, there was a considerable
increase in the number of children taken to the centres as
compared with the previous year. This increase was partly due to
the return to the Borough of many children following the cessation
of heavy raiding in the middle of the year.
The revised "Home Helps" scheme, under which the Council
employs a panel of women to attend to the domestic duties of women
during the lying-in period, was put into operation during the year
and has been very well received. It has undoubtedly been of very
great benefit to many young mothers whose husbands are away from
home with the Armed Forces.
The scheme for the establishment of war-time day nurseries was
introduced during the year and, although no war-time nurseries
were opened during 1941, arrangements were well in hand for the
establishment of the first two nurseries.
The increased number of notifications of infectious disease
received in 1941 as compared with 1940 was almost entirely due to
the greater prevalence of measles and whooping cough. There were,
however, no deaths from measles and only two from whooping cough.
The national campaign for securing widespread protection of
the child population from diphtheria resulted in a very considerable
increase in the number of children attending at the Diphtheria
Immunisation Clinics. The number of new cases (1,972) was
greater than in any previous year since the opening of the clinics
in 1928 notwithstanding that so many children are evacuated from
the Borough. The attendances at these clinics continue to grow and
a new record is likely to be established in 1942.
It will be seen from the figures given on page 26 that there
was a small increase in the number of primary notifications of
tuberculosis and a somewhat larger increase in the number of deaths
from this disease. In the absence of figures for the country as a
whole it is not possible to draw reliable conclusions as to the effect
of war-time conditions upon the incidence of tuberculosis, and the
exclusion of non-civilians from the estimated population tends to
give the attack-rate and death-rate from this disease an inflated
appearance.
The very considerable increase in scabious and verminous conditions
has called for a great deal of effort and thought from the
Public Health Department, and it has been necessary for the