Health Committee's report / City of Melbourne.

  • Melbourne (Vic.). Health Committee.
Date:
[1947]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    7/42 (page 3)
    North Carlton, vacated owing to the Army’s decision to move to other premises, will &make it possible to relieve mothers who are in urgent difficulties, by taking over the full care of their young children for a time, and will afford space in its grounds for the provision of more kinder¬ garten or play-group accommodation in a district where it is badly needed. It is gratifying to know that the Training College of the Free Kindergarten Union has received further substantial assistance from the Government, and that the completion of addit¬ ions to the College has enabled the Union to substantially increase the number of young women in training. Two further scholarships for girls to attend the three year course at the College were pro¬ vided by the Melbourne City Council. As was the case last year, the scholarships provide for tuition fees and for a living allowance and two very satisfactory candidates were selected from a large number of applicants. A report received from the College shows that the two scholars appointed last year had completed a very satisfactory year’s work. When their course is com¬ pleted the girls have undertaken to serve for several years in kindergartens in the City. The report of Mr. Reeves, the Dental Officer, shows that his attendance at the Health Centres at Kensington and Newry Street has been appreciated, so much so, that towards the end of the year it became evident that two sessions per week at each Centre, instead of one, are need¬ ed to cope with the work. The amount of milk distributed under the Council’s scheme of assisted milk distribut )on, and the number of families assisted thereunder, shows an appreciable rise as compared with last year. This rise seems to mark the turning point in what had been a diminishing number of families requiring assistance during the years since the outbreak of war, and may signify a turn in the tide of general economic prosperity. It is noteworthy, also, that the amount of Iron and vitamin mixture distributed to infants was about double that distributed last year, though this increase is more indicative of a change in the professional view point than in the economic need of the population. INFECTIOUS DISEASES Details of infectious disease and its control are found in the report of Dr. Hilda W. Bull. The incidence of infectious disease continued to be very low, the number of diphtheria cases (21) being the lowest ever recorded in the City. This low record corresponded to a low incidence both in the metropolitan area and in the State as a whole, all of which recorded jow figures. It is necessary once more, however, to record the warning that this fortunate state of affairs is probably due more to a natural fluctuation in the prevalence of the disease than to the active measures taken to prevent it, which are still, in mjy opinion, too sporadic and incomplete to ensure our protection against this dangerous disease. In the late thirties the incidence of diphtheria was very low in parts of Europe, particularly Scandinavian countries, where no gene¬ ral immunisation against the disease is carried out, but during the early years of the war diph¬ theria again became prevalent in Europe and these countries and other parts of Europe suf¬ fered very badly indeed, whereas, in Britain, where immunisation was most energetically taken up soon after the outbreak of war, no such rise occurred, and the deaths from diphtheria have been steadily diminishing. In Britain, over the war years, there has been a well organised campaign over the whole country, with widely publicised and distributed advertisements issued both by official and voluntary organisations. On m'y arrval in London last year I was immediate¬ ly struck by arresting posters in the London tube stations and trains, copies of which I have se¬ cured and passed to the Department of Public Health. In the City, immunisation was last year limited to infants and pre-school children, but the number of children dealt with in the Healh Centres and in various institutions was larger than in any previous year. The number in Health Centres who received two or three doses, and can be regarded as satisfactorily immunised, was 1103, as compared to the previous maximum of 864 in 1945. Dr. Bull’s report gives an account of an investigation of the trial of a new preparation, a combined vaccine, suitable for administration to infants and young children, and designed to prevent both diphtheria and whooping cough. This is prepared by the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, and appears to be very satisfactory. It is to be hoped that its efficacy will be con¬ firmed and that it will soon be available for general use, since the separate immunisation of chil¬ dren against whooping cough is a laborious and rather nerve-rackng task. This year the de¬ mand for immunisation against whooping cough, which started last year, has further developed, and a total of 333 children were dealt with. The situation regarding tuberculosis has shown no noteworthy change, but it is satisfac¬ tory to learn that the death-rate for the State continues to fall and has apparently resumed the downward course which it has followed, here and in similar communities, for many decades with interruptions during the two World Wars. Considerable propaganda and experimental work is be¬ ing carried out by the State in the matter of examination of well people by miniature X-ray ex¬ aminations. This procedure offers a potentially valuable method of discovering unrecognised 3