Annual public health report of the Province of Bihar.

  • Bihar (India). Public Health Department.
Date:
[1940]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual public health report of the Province of Bihar. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ANNUAL PUBLIC HEALTH REPORT OE THE Province of Bihar for the year 1940 CHAPTER I. State of Public Health in the Province and History of the chief diseases—Epidemiology. 1. Comparative incidence of the chief diseases.—The undermentioned statement compares the ratios uuder the chief heads of mortality of 1940 with the average ratio of the previous 10 years. Name of diseases Urban. Rural. Combined. Ten year® average. 1940 Ten years average. , 1940. ' j Ten years average- I960 , ! 2 3 4 6 6 7 Cholera .. 0*5 0-2 1*1 0-5 1-1 0-5 Small-pox 0-5 0-9 0 4 0-5 0-4 0-5 Plague .. 0-06 0-03 0-09 0-03 0-09 0-03 Fevers ., 6-5 6-5 18-2 18-2 17-8 17-7 Dysentery and diarrhoea 0-5 0-5 0-9 0-06 0-1 0-1 Respiratory diseases .. 0-5 0*4 0-07 006 0-09 01 Injuries .. 0-5 0-4 0-2 0-2 0 3 0-2 All other causes 4-3 4-2 3*2 2-9 3-3 2-9 Total 13-6 13-1 23-6 . 22-6 23-2 22*2 The death-rate has decreased from 23’0 in 1939 to 22-2 per mille of popula¬ tion in 1940. The highest death-rate 17*7 was recorded from fevers. Deaths from malaria are included under the heading of “ Fevers ” and as malaria prevailed in several districts of the province during the year under review, it is presumed that the increased death-rate from fevers was chiefly due to greater number of deaths from this disease. The urban areas, except a few small municipal towns, continued to record proportionately less number of deaths from cholera and fevers. This is obviously due to the maintenance of better standard of sanitation in the municipal towns, but the urban rates from the respiratory diseases again exceeded those recorded in the rural areas. The deaths from pulmonary tuberculosis, pneumonia and bronchitis following influenza are all reported under the head “Respiratory diseases ”. Although no means exist to know the exact number of deaths from each of these diseases, it is presumed that a big proportion of these deaths was caused by pulmonary tuberculosis. The chief reason for higher death-rates from pulmonary tuberculosis in the urban areas of the province may be ascribed to unhygienic housing condition, overcrowding, malnutrition and lack of fresh air. Public opinion has been greatly roused in recent years against the scourge caused by this disease. Tuberculosis has been added to the list of notifiable diseases under the Municipal Amendment Act of 1935. 2. Cholera statistics.—The death-rate from cholera was 05 per mille in 1939 and 0*5 per mille in 1940. The districts of Shahabad and Champaran recorded the highest death-rate, viz., 1*6 and 1*5 respectively. Amongst the towns Lohardaga (1*7) and Gaya (1*5) reported highest death-rates.