HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1921, Page 6

HEALTH OF THE PEOPLE.

POSITION IN NORTH TARANAKI. IS IT WORSE THAN OTHER PARTS’ SOME STRIKING FACTS. The health of the people, and particularly of the children, in North Taranaki has recently given the Hospital Board and others some concern. For some time past the admissions to the hospital from Fitzroy and other parts have been fairly considerable, most of them being children suffering from infectious dieeases. It is known that the Fitzroy gchool is grossly overcrowded, and efforts to relieve the congestion have-not been attended with any conspicuous success; rathe? the reverse. The Hospital Board, blame the Education \Boafd for allowing conditions to continue that make for the spread of infectious diseases, whilst the Education Board blame the authorities in Wellington for not providing the wherewithal for making the necessary additions and extensions, also the school committees for not seeing to their part of the job. Recently a News representative saw Mr. F. Swindells, the local health inspector, a live man who obviously knows his job, and obtained some interesting and valuable information from him on the subject. In the first place, Mr. Swindells said, Fitzroy was not in having more pupils than there was proper provision for; the other two public schools were almost as bad in this respect. But there was this important difference: Westown and Central are connected with the drainage system; litzroy is not. The sewerage from the latter *is discharged into the ground, which thus becomes polluted, and sets up obnoxious gases, which affect the systems of those predisposed to disease. It only requires the infection to be introduced, and the? ground is ready for its dissemination either by direct contact or by means of common usage of some material or thing.

SOURCE OF INFECTION. It was a noticeable fact, said Mr. Swindells, that Fitzroy was the only school in the district which used, plastieene without safeguards. Plastieene was a fruitful cause of infection, as he had proved on previous occasions. He instanced a case at Ohakune, where on one occasion there was n serious, outbreak of diphtheria amongst the smaller school children. He was at a loss for some time to account for the cause of the infection, The school was not using plasticene, so he felt it could not bo that material. He chanced, however, to ascertain that plastieene was being used by the children in a home where there i had been an outbreak of the disease. The victims had been isolated, hut the germs had formed a lodgment in the plastieene, the children had played with it, became carriers of the disease, and thus spread it amongst the children of the school. The plastieene was destroyed, and afterwards the school was entirely free from it. Towels used by many children would also spread infection; so would pencils, and bad drinking water. Children, and the general public, too, could not be too careful. He was of the firm opinion that if they made it a daily duty to inhale a mild saline solution and gfirgle their throats, infectious diseases would be .considerably reduced. At the same time the vitality of the children should be maintained. Some, of course, were not 4i well born,” and therefore were handicapped through life, and predisposed towards disease. Contact with insanitary conditions and the drinking of impure water tended to lower vitality. Good strong, healthy bodies would throw off disease where ill-nourished ones would at once be affected.

SOME STRIKING FIGURES. But Mr. Swindells would not Agree that infectious diseases were more prevalent in the Taranaki hospital district than in others. Indeed, he had had tables prepared showing that the health in this part of Taranaki was quite equal to that of other parts, and better this year than in some previous years. He submitted the following tables, which he had prepared: — Infectious Diseases, from 1916 to 1921.

Per 1000 of population (27,741 population). 191 G 9.1 1917 7.31 1918 16.82 1919 9.91 1920 32T26 1921* 7.64 •For 9 months, averaged till end of /year, 212 cases. « 1918 was epidemic year; in 1920 there was a miid wave of influenza. DISTRICTS COMPARED. Year 1919. Cases Population Notified Per. 1000. Wanganui . . 44,978 513 11.18 Taranaki . . 26,5?0 273 10.28 Stratford . . 9,633 119 12.35 Hawera . . 17,160 363 21.15 Patea . . 5,232 51 9.74 The average per 1000 head of population was In 1919 there was an outbreak of diphtheria in Hawera. <The inspector lifts prepared another table showing the infectious diseases in each hospital district in the Dominion. It shows that where districts are isolated, or have indifferent means of communication, the number of infectious diseases is very low. For instance, in the north of Auckland (Bay of Islands), the cases per 1000 are only

2.30, -whilst Auckland city is 10.82, and Waihi 16.32, the average for the whole of the Auckland district being 10.86, and the north of Auckland (three hospital districts) 3.27. In Wellington (including Taranaki) the average is 9.82 per 1000, Canterbury 11.94, and Otago 9.(12.

The average -for the Dominion is 10.19: Taranaki’s average is 12.73. But for the diphtheria outbreak in the Hav. ra district, Taranaki’s average would have been a tritX* less in 1919 than the Dominion’s average.

The conclusion to be derived from these figures is that North Taranaki is not any worse off in regard to infectious diseases than most other places, and that if proper sanitary measures are -instituted at some of the schools and

more accommodation provided, and children generally taught habits of hygiene, particularly in regard to giving attention to their noses and mouths, infec-

tious diseases will largely disappear. Infectious diseases are preventable, and every means should be taken to protect the children and instruct them in regard to th 6 value of—nay, the absolute necessity for—cleanliness.

•* ® . •- 5 fe ~ J <» 1 S 6 « 1 S “ rt « e. , g'5<a-2 q H W 2 M h >2 o H 1916 24 192 8 8 0 19 251 1917 40 117 14 29 0 3 203 1918 7 266 17 15 160 7 472 1919 14 71 8 18 131 33 275 1920 37 54 10 13 702 19 895 1921 63 36 9 6 5 40 159