[Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Gloucestershire County Council.

  • Gloucestershire (England). County Council. n 50061360.
Date:
1931
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1931] / Medical Officer of Health, Gloucestershire County Council. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    assistance to new Infant Welfare Centres has been withheld for the next year. Existing work is to continue on the same lines, and it is hoped that these restrictions will soon be withdrawn and that all parts of the County will have the fullest benefits available for the care of the mothers and children. WELFARE OF THE BLIND. The number of blind persons on the register on 31st March, 1932, was 675, 23 less than a year previously. Even in the short time that registration has been in force, there is encouraging evidence that blindness in the early years of life is decreasing : this is shown in the following statement of the percentages of blind persons and of the ages of onset of blindness in 1923 and 1932. Percentages in Age Groups. Registered Ages at which Blind Persons. Blindness occurred. 1923. 1932. 1923.* 1932. 0-5 .9 — 30.2 8.6 6-20 9.6 4.2 10.1 8.6 21-50 ... 29.75 19.0 23.65 23.5 Over 50 ... ... 59.7 76.9 31.55 51.5 * 4.5 per cent, unknown. In 1923 there were 59 blind persons under the age of 21 years, but in 1932 the number was only 28 and there were no blind children under the age of 5 years : in the latter year over three- quarters of the blind were above the age of 50 years. The second part of the table shows how serious a cause for blindness was ophthalmia neonatorum. Of 536 persons in 1923 150 (over one- quarter) had been blinded before their first birthday, but the proportion had fallen to one-seventh ten years later. Small numbers of cases of ophthalmia neonatorum are still notified, but in only one of the 446 cases during the past 19 years was any impairment of vision reported and that in slight degree. Certified midwives are required to notify any discharge from a baby’s eyes, however slight, and prompt treatment is given in all cases. There remains, however, a vast field for the prevention of this serious affliction in later life. A Committee of the Union of Counties Associations has given careful consideration to the subject and has issued a report with a draft case paper : if full information in the form therein suggested is obtained for each case, a fund of material will be available for guidance as to directions for research with a view to preventing diseases of the eye resulting in blindness in later life.