MIRACLE OF WAR YEARS

Evening Star, Issue 25895, 12 September 1946, Page 7

MIRACLE OF WAR YEARS

STANDARD OF BRITISH HEALTH ADVANCES IN MEDICINE CHECK EPIDEMICS (Rec. 8 a.m.) LONDON, Sept. 11. In spite of fatigue, food restrictions, monotonous diet, and the greater risks of the importation of alien diseases during the war, the public health is no worse than in 1939, says the chief medical officer, Sir Wilson Jameson. •‘lt is indeed a miracle that after six years of unprecedented strain the people’s health should be as good as it is.” The birth rate rose and the death rate fell. Advances in medicine prevented serious epidemics. Cases of diphtheria declined as a result of the Ministry of Health’s immunisation campaign. 1 A cerebro-spinal fever epidemic had been countered with new methods of treatment, and as a result mortality was reduced, and probably 15,000 lives were saved. Sir Wilson Jameson said that the war was responsible for any increase in venereal diseases, but the problem had been met by increasing facilities for diagnosis and treatment, by plain speaking and intensive propaganda. The incidence of syphilis had increased about 14 per cent., but it declined in 1944; the incidence of gonorrhoea rose 86 per cent, in 1942, but it also declined in 1944. Sulphonamides and penicillin proved potent medicaments for the treatment of these diseases. The report draws attention to the heavy toll of accidents in the home, and it suggests a .special of house-planning equipment for use by architects and technicians.