Annual medical report / Tanganyika Territory.

  • Tanganyika. Medical Department.
Date:
[1924]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual medical report / Tanganyika Territory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    193/246 (page 181)
    Tanga Small-pox. The following is the small-pox record of Tanga district for the last five years 1920. 1921. 1922. 1923. 1924. •• 1,823 412 82 81 o 752 136 14 16 o Cases Deaths I]C>9“6 vaccinations were performed during this year. Of 2,782 re-inspected there were 49 % successful, 27 % modified and 24 % failures. Ankylostomiasis in Tanga. The hookworm is the chief cause of native sickness and deaths in this area. The hospital return, the school return, and the akidas’ returns provide some evidence of the extent of its incidence. The hospital return shows 1,365 native cases (i.e. 14 % of all native cases), and 50 deaths (50 % of all native deaths). The school return shows 54 cases among 300 boys, but it is noteworthy that 34 % of.all the scholars, have varying degrees of anaemia. The majority of the schoolboys bemg resident within the township, these figures are not a reliable index of the prevalence of the disease in the sub-districts. I give a brief extract only of the akidas’ returns, as their diagnosis and figures generally are not reliable. 0 b J * 1921. Number of deaths attributed to hookworm 444 Death-rate from hookworm per 1,000 living 5-2 Percentage of total deaths ascribed to hookworm .. .. .. .. 28 It is probable that hookworm is at least a contributing factor in half the native deaths of the district. At the present time mass treatment at Tanga would be expensive and of little value, for the return of the patients to their homes would mean early re¬ infection of most of them. Educational propaganda and the improvement of latrine accommodation are necessary, and both are dependent on regular medical supervision of the out-districts. 1922. 1923. I924. 284 189 241 3-3 2-2 2-8 21 15 21 Medical Supervision of the Sub-districts. All the sub-districts, except Amani, have been visited by the Medical Officer of Health, but.only at long intervals and for short periods. The main difficulty in regular inspection, is the lack of any motor transport. At the present time an inspection of shamba labour conditions throughout the district—supervision of which is obviously urgently needed would involve the risk of a relapse of Tanga township conditions. It is, I think, a sounder policy to try to consolidate what we have gained, and to extend from it than to attempt, with a small staff and no transport, to control too large an area. . The towns, on the railway, such as Mombo and Korogwe, can be inspected, and technical, advice given to the Administrative Officer. Anv attempt to control the districts many miles from the railway is, I think, inadvisable until motor transport is acquired. Conservancy. The new incinerators in School Street and in Ngamiani were brought into use in January and are working well. The following are comparative figures :_ Cart loads of refuse removed Dumps of rubbish removed The products of incineration have been Street ravine and Wasambaa ravine. *1922. 1923. 1924. I4>I7I I7T52 22,794 30 250 711 used to fill in Hospital Swamp, Mission T3