Annual report of the Public Health Department / Zanzibar Protectorate.

  • Zanzibar. Public Health Department.
Date:
[1937]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Public Health Department / Zanzibar Protectorate. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/72 (page 6)
    and easy transport, many of those attending these institutions come from a dis¬ tance, the vast majority are drawn from within a surprisingly small radius. In the case of the dispensaries, this sphere of influence is even smaller. Only too many of the district population still regard a hospital as a place to be avoided and, even when gravely ill, will readily sacrifice a good chance of recovery rather than be separated from their relations and their home. It was hoped that the dispensary service would materially assist in breaking down this pre¬ judice, but such has not come to be realized. The poor attendances at so many of these units suggests that either the system, the personnel, or the people them¬ selves are at fault, and a careful review of the situation is at present under consideration. Three native Sanitary Inspectors have just been posted to rural areas. At the moment their work consists chiefly of propaganda combined with the super¬ vision of the dispensers. The combination of the two may well result in closer contact between the native rural population and the Medical and Sanitary services concerned with their welfare. I. GENERAL DISEASES. The diseases treated at the Government hospitals and dispensaries during the last five years are grouped in percentages of cases treated in the following table:— 1933 1934 1935 1936 0/ 1937 of Endemic, Epidemic and Infectious diseases /o 11 Jo 13 Jo 12 Jo 13 Jo 14 Nervous system 6 7 6 6 6 Bespiratory system 7 7 8 7 8 Digestive system 26 27 30 26 26 Skin and cellular tissues 82 29 27 28 26 External causes 7 7 8 8 8 Others 11 10 9 12 12 100 100 100 100 100 The Epidemic, Endemic and Infectious diseases group varies little from year to year in its relation to the total number of cases of all diseases treated. The largest numbers dealt with in this group were malaria, yaws and gonorrhoea. The number of cases and deaths due to Epidemic, Endemic and Infectious diseases are shown in the following table:— Total numbars. Epidemic, Endemic and Infectious Diseases. Deaths. 1933 157,167 17,900 77 1934 159,686 19,833 90 1935 130,115 15,394 83 1936 128,235 16,638 99 1937 125,542 17,477 80 Here again there is little departure from the normal incidence. General Diseases.—These numbered 2,159 with 17 deaths compared with 2,107 and 11 deaths in 1936. Anaemia, 745 cases, and chronic rheumatism 321 cases, were the most common diseases in the group and as they were diagnosed almost entirely by rural dispensers, the presumption is that most were cases of ancylostomiasis and gonnorrhoeal arthritis. A number of cases of avitaminosis and malnutrition were seen but, as the model report is not framed to include these diagnoses, such cases are entered in Table VI under item 40. Affections of the Nervous System.—This group totalled 7,564 with 14 deaths compared with 7,672 cases in 1936. Diseases of the Eye formed the largest sub¬ division 3,354 as compared with 3,566 in 1936. Other minor affections such as headache, neuralgia and insomnia accounted for 1,860 cases compared with 2,053 last year.