[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hendon].

  • Hendon (London, England). Municipal Borough.
Date:
[1943]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: [Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Hendon]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/28 (page 17)
    17. SCHOOL MEDICAL SERVICES. The health of the children attending the elementary schools was well maintained and compared favourably with that of pre-war years. Careful watch was kept over their nutritional standards and so far as the findings of medical inspections are concerned, it will be seen that there was little deviation from the previous year. TABLE XII CLASSIFICATION 0F THE NUTRITION OP CHILDREN INSPECTED DURING THE YEAR IN THE ROUTINE AGE GROUPS. Number of children inspected. A (Excellent) B (Normal) C (Slightly sub-normal) D (Bad) No. % No. No. No. % 1941 5463 938 17.17 3824 70.0 696 12.74 5 0.09 1942 5011 947 18.90 3506 69.97 550 10.97 8 0.16 It is difficult, however, to measure standards of positive health by statistics only, but I am convinced from my observations that the muscular tone, the posture and general bearing of the children reflect as high a standard of well being as in any pre-war year. This is particularly so in the children from the poorer homos. Against this optimistic picture one disquieting fact emerges, viz., that considerably more children were referred for psychological examination because of problems of behaviour. This may not be altogether surprising in a war atmosphere and it is probable that a number of causes are operating to produce this result; the lack of parental control due in many instances to the father being in the Services and the mother in industry is, I believe, the most important single factor. The clothing of the children generally remained good, but thero was evidence that difficulty was being experienced in a small number of cases and this is not likely to improve in the immediate future. The Scheme for the provision of milk and meals in schools has played a largo part in maintaining and in many instances, improving the standard of nutrition, and it is likely that in the near future, meals will bo provided for all children whose parents wish them to participate. At the present time a considerable number of children are taking advantage of meals provided at the British Restaurants, and the subsidising and stabilisation of the prices of the more essential foodstuffs, has also been a valuable contribution.