The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1941 Public Health in Britain

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21867, 21 January 1941, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1941 Public Health in Britain

SO far, the worst anticipations concerning the dangers to public health created by “shelter” life in the United Kingdom have not been fulfilled. This relative freedom from epidemic diseases may be taken then as a sign that effective preventive measures have been adopted by the authorities and carried out carefully by the people. The Ministry of Health, of course, was acutely aware of the danger and with the advent of winter it did the best It could to assure that camps and shelters should not become breeding grounds for disease. Writing early in November, a contributor to the Spectator suggested that March was the month on which British people should keep their minds fixed. “By March certain grave menaces will be behind us,” he wrote. “The greatest of our menaces is not war but disease. Every doctor knows that crowded shelters are ideal forcing-grounds for epidemics, chief among the possibilities being cerebro spinal meningitis and influenza. By March we shall know how successfully the evils that would normally result from severe physical and mental strain combined with unrivalled facilities for infection have been frustrated.”

A statement issued by the Chief Medical Officer of Health in England less than a fortnight ago declared that so far the health of the nation was remarkably good. There had been few cases of infectious in the shelters and no epidemics. Since up to 600,000 Londoners sleep in public shelters each night this must mean that excellent disease control measures are in operation. That little is being left to chance is shown by the fact that 164 medical posts have been established in public shelters and nurses are in regular attendance. Problems of effective sanitation are being rapidly overcome, but difficulty is still being experienced in the ventilation of buildings not originally designed as shelters. Considered broadly, the achievement of the Ministry of Health is as valuable as any accomplished in the war. Disease threatened to claim many more' victims than the Nazi bombs, but medical science and common sense have combined to overcome this menace in the season when it was most likely to appear. •