[Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Hartismere R.D.C.

  • Hartismere (England). Rural District Council.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1913] / Medical Officer of Health, Hartismere R.D.C. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    uniform kind and courteous support I have received from them ; and also to the Clerk, the Sanitary Inspector, the Relieving Officers and other officials of the Council and Board of Guardians, who have worked so amicably with me. Since the time of my appointment great changes have taken place in sanitary matters. Sanitation is no longer looked upon, as it was then, as a fad, and sanitary measures are regarded from a very different stand-point. Such opposition to sanitary improvements as exist to-day is directed rather against the cost than against the principle. Though no great and costly work have been undertaken, very much real progress has been made, and it may be interesting to note some directions in which good work has been accomplished. The water supply of the district has very materially improved. There are now 38 public wells maintained by your Council, and a dry season does not mean a water famine in the way it did 40 years ago. There is still much need for progress in this direction, but the records of past years show that your Council is alive to this necessity, and is steadily endeavouring to meet it. Acute Infectious Diseases have shown a marked decrease generally since the Notification Act of 1889 came into force. Scarlet Fever, has shown a marked decrease in number of cases and also in the severity of the disease* The number of cases has progressively decreased from an average of 72 per year during the first five years the Act was in force, to an average of 12 per year during the last four years, and at the same time the mortality has been much reduced. The disease appears to have assumed a much more benign form, and I think one may fairly claim this as a result of the constant disinfection resorted to during the progress and after the close of the disease, which