Annual report of the Medical Department of the Western Region of Nigeria.

  • Western Nigeria (Nigeria). Medical Department.
Date:
[1957]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department of the Western Region of Nigeria. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    This Unit functions under the overall supervision of the Professor of Preventive and Social Medicine, University College, Ibadan. Regular ante-natal, infant and child welfare, and school children clinics were held throughout the year. The work of the Centre continues to be appreciated by the people of the area. There were 109 cases of malaria during the year. Blood films were taken of 195 children under one year and twenty-six (13%) were positive P. Falciparum; 124 films of children one to five years were taken and forty-seven (13%) were positive. The fish pond, which was made from a swamp some years ago, continues its useful life. No mosquito breeding took place. There is a monetary yield from the fish sold and bilharzia in children is decreasing. Another fish pond nearly is in course of construction. Statistical data is given below for the past three years: New Cases Attendances 1955 1956 1951 1955 1956 1951 Dispe-nsary 985 786 1,013 6,806 5,626 6,191 Ante-natal 216 222 311 1,280 933 1,439 Children up to one year... 210 192 193 1,239 1,187 1,111 Children one to five years 117 99 193 957 813 735 There were also 185 new cases of school children who attended with a total of 459 attendances, and the dispensary attendant dealt with a further 1,197 cases of minor wounds and ulcers with a total of 10,410 attendances. D.—MEDICAL FIELD UNITS The three Medical Field Units continued the campaign against yaws, with assistance from WHO and UNICEF. The campaign was unfortunately hindered during the year by three factors. The bad conditions of roads, especially as far as the Nos 2 and 3 Units were concerned; the suspension of the campaign in February and March when the units were temporarily engaged on anti smallpox campaign, and finally by the strike of Medical Field Unit Inspectors and Assistants which lasted from the 14th October to the 20th of December. A new feature was the idea of broadening the scope of the survey for yaws, to include the investigations into the incidence of other endemic and epidemic diseases together with measures for their control. As a result, vaccination against smallpox was offered, but was not made compulsory, along with the penicillin treatment for yaws, from the start of the new initial treatment survey in Aboh Division. Further, a spleen rate estimation in the child age group two to ten years was also undertaken. Other diseases for which control was considered were tuberculosis and leprosy, but due to shortage of staff the idea was not put into effect. A feature of the work of the Units engaged in the yaws campaign is the systematic treatment of other ailments encountered among the local people in order to introduce to them the benefits of modern medicine and thereby to gain their confidence so that they may make use of the static units provided, that is dispensaries, maternity centres and hospitals. In fact, the yaws campaign is an integral part of the rural services, and the intention is a closer integration and improvement of the rural health services in the future.