[Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, West Riding of Yorkshire County Council.

  • West Riding of Yorkshire (England). County Council.
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1943] / Medical Officer of Health, West Riding of Yorkshire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/16 (page 1)
    The new Public Health and Welfare Committee. A quinquennial report. Birth Rate, Death Rate• Infantile Mortality ■Rate. ■ COUNTY COUNCIL 'OF THE WEST RIDING- OF YORKSHIRE. ■' .. T “ 1 ' ' - „ ~ i r - i - ; ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNTY DIED I CAL OFFICER for the YEAR 1945. TO THE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH 11© WELFARE COMMITTEE OF THE COUNTY COUNCIL OF THE WEST RIDING OF YORKSHIRE. •A | ;j , ... ... / Mr .Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present the Annual Report upon the health and conditions of the County during the year 1943. On account of shortage of staff, of paper and printing facilities and having regard to the continued urgent necessity for economy, the report has again been considerably reduced in size, and is stencilled only. The mass of material usually contained in peace-time reports has been prepared for future reference and.this is available in the Department. The year 1943 has witnessed a change in the.administra¬ tion of the Health and Sooial services by the fusion of the West Riding Public Health and Housing Committee with the West Riding Public Assistance Committee, and the_resultant formation of the new Point West Riding Public Health and Welfare Committee, Over the same period much time was spent throughout the country upon matters of post-war re-construction of the closely related services of health, education, and employment. These two matters prompt me in the following paragraphs to review the progress that has been made in the health of the County during the last three quinquennial periods (see below) namely the 15 years since 1929 when I was appointed County Medi al Officer* The Birth Rate in the Administrative County (17.8 per 1,000 of the population; has shown a rising tendency since the commencement of the War, the rate for 1943 being the highes since 1926 and .8 per 1,000 more than for 1942. In 194o 3,000 more babies were born than in 1939 and more than 750 than in 1942. There was no corresponding increase in the number of deaths, therefore the natural increase in the population (i.e. the excess of births over deaths) is higher than m years immediately preceding. The Death Rate for 1943 in- the Administrative County, from all causes, was 12r7 per 1,000 of the_population compared with 11.7 for the previous years. The chief increases in the number of deaths from particular causes in 194o were aue to bronchitis, pneumonia and influenza. The'Infantile Mortality Rate is regarded as the most sensitive index of the health of the community. It represents the number of deaths of infants under one year of age pt,r 1,000 births. In 1943 the rate was 50. By comparison, the'Infantile Mortality Rate- for the previous 15 years (inclusive was:-