[Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council.

  • Essex (England). County Council.
Date:
1946
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1946] / Medical Officer of Health, Essex County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/100 (page 2)
    PREFACE. To the Chairman and Members of the Essex County Council. I have the honour to present my twenty-eighth Annual Report for the year 194 5 j (the fifty-seventh to be issued), on the health services of the Administrative County < /J Essex. Pressure of post-war work has prevented earlier publication of this report. The report includes all the usual statistical tables, the main features of whicj# are :— Birth-rate increased from 17.3 to 20.6 which is the highest rate recorded sinv [i 1920. Death-rate decreased from 11.5 to 10.4. Infant Mortality decreased from 39 to 33 which is the lowest rate ever recorded 1 Im Maternal Mortality in the County Council’s Welfare Area decreased from l.(\J to 1.26. | Notifiable Diseases Notifications decreased from 22,431 to 15,737. Whoopirj* Cough showed a marked increase from 2,060 to 3,287, whereas measl a decreased from 15,591 to 7,296 and Scarlet Fever from 2,045 to 1,886. T1 T most remarkable figure relates to Diphtheria, the figure decreasing fro: l 219 to 152. Twelve years ago it was 2,717. Smallpox appeared in the Administrative County after being absent since 19371 A special report on this outbreak is included in the body of this report- v see pages 17 to 21. Special attention is drawn to the Comments on Vital Statistics on pages 5 1 ■( 11 and Infant Mortality in Essex on pages 11 to 15. These have been prepared 1 Professor Major Greenwood, D.Sc., F.R.C.P., F.R.S., who has kindly undertake 1 to assist as Medical Statistician (part-time) and who in turn has subsequently beeJ assisted by a whole-time Statistician. Rural Housing has been made a special feature in this year’s report and tl references to this subject are based on the work carried out by the Joint AdvisoiJ Committee on Rural Housing. Their approved memorandum regarding standards h fitness, which is included in this report, has been an excellent guide to the Sanitaiill Inspectors when carrying out their housing surveys in Rural Districts. Tables are all 3 included showing the number of permanent and temporary houses erected or undtl construction and the position of the housing surveys. It will be seen that there is on ] one Rural District (Chelmsford) where the survey has been completed. Woik on the prevention of rivers pollution has continued. More and more housv and factories mean greater loads being placed on already overloaded sewage works l some areas. Shortage of labour and materials prevent the carrying out of improve | ments. It is to the credit of some Authorities that they have made every effort ' 1 produce the best possible effluents in the circumstances,