Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne.

  • Melbourne (Vic.). Health Committee.
Date:
[1946]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/32 (page 8)
    CHIU) WELFARE Health Department, Town Hall Chambers, Melbourne.. 14th March, 1947. The Medical Officer of Health: Sir, I have the honour to report on the child welfare activities for the year 1946. It has been a busy year for the Sisters, as the number of births was 2,033, the highest ever recorded. Busy Centres, however, are satisfactory when one gets good parent co-operation and can see many babies growing strong from week to week. Unco-operative parents need a great deal of time and attention in order to secure good results. Premature babies, of which there are always a fair percentage, also require a lot of a Sister’s time and attention. On the whole, co-operation has been good, and general health and progress very satisfactory. The infant mor¬ tality rate, viz. 23.1, was the lowest ever recorded, and is considerably below the average, both for Victoria (27.1) and Greater Melbourne (27.0). Unfortunately we cannot announce any increase in breast feeding—on the contrary there is a slight decrease. This is very much deplored. But, until the cause is found it appears in¬ evitable, since most civilised communities attest the same. The possible unhappy results of diminution in breast feeding are, however, offset by an ever increasing knowledge and desire of all concerned, to make artificial feeding as good as it can be. As has been stated in earlier re¬ ports, with good artificial feeding neither morbidity nor mortality appear to increase. Infectious diseases were mild in incidence throughout the year. In the early months there was an epidemic of poliomyelitis of only moderate severity. Since epidemiologists had in¬ dicated that the disease may gain entrance to the body through injured or raw mucous surfaces, doctors and hospitals decided to postpone any but extremely urgent tonsillectomies until the epidemic had died down. This meant that most of the children for whom tonsillectomy had been recommended were not listed for treatment until near the end of the year. There were, unfortunately, four child deaths from tuberculosis and two from diphtheria. The two deaths from diphtheria were in children whose parents had not accepted immunization. Of the four children who died from tuberculosis, three had near relatives who were known to be affected, whilst in the fourth child there was a history suggestive of possible contact. Three of the tuberculosis deaths and the two diphtheria deaths were in the 2-6 age group. The other two deaths (making the total number 7) in this age group were due respectively to congenital amyo¬ tonia with a terminal bronchopneumonia and to septicaemia with bronchitis. There was only one child death due to accident. This was in a child aged between one and two years. The deaths from tuberculosis and diphtheria emphasize again the necessity for care against the spread of respiratory disease. The above are both killing diseases and are therefore dra- natie enough to attract the attention of the public to care in their prevention, both by avoiding infection and by building up resistance against them. Other respiratory diseases, though not so dramatic do sometimes kili, and are always public nuisances and the cause of much temporary disability. They would not be communicated nearly as much as they are if individual care against personal communication were taken. We are pleased to have again the services of a dentist for one session a week at Newry Street and Kensington Health Centres. Our thanks go gratefully to the Dental Hospital for the dental work given to our City children. There is still far too much dental caries in pre-school children, though it is considerably less than it was years ago. Improvement is presumably due to the years of constant supervision and education in the Health Centres, with regard to care of teeth. But caries will be still with us as long as deleterious habits persist, such as, the giving of dummies with malt, honey, etc., and the giving of biscuits, cakes, lollies, ice cream and so on, be¬ tween meals. Surveys which I have done in the past with City children have shown the strik¬ ing difference in the condition of the incisors and the molars respectively where these habits did or did not exist. Skin diseases do not trouble us unduly. Impetigo, tinea or scabies crop up every here and there. Because of their contagious nature, ail affected members of a family must be treated at once, otherwise re-infection will occur. The same may be said of worms in the alimentary canal, which is a comparatively common complaint. Transmission of eggs from one member of the family to another, or from playmate to playmate, is easy, and, frequently, no one knows that any mem¬ ber of the family or a playmate is infected until a request is made for a special observation. Strabismus (squint) is found much more frequently than one would expect. Between 3 and 4 per cent of pre-school children are found to have some degree of squint. Early treatment of this may save eyes otherwise doomed to uselessness. S