Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1899.

  • West Ham (London, England). County Borough.
Date:
[1900]
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1899. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    8 unavoidable disease. At the end of the year, with the object of taking active steps towards the education and improvement of the wives and daughters of the poorer households where these diseases are particularly rampant, the Council, on the initiative of the Chairman of the Public Health Committee, decided to appoint two Women Health Visitors, whose duties should be the same as are performed by the Health Visitors of Birmingham, and are here set out:— Duties of Health Visitors. To visit from house to house in such localities as the Medical Officer of Health shall direct. To carry with them disinfectant powder and use it where required. To direct the attention of those they visit to the evils of bad smells, want of fresh air, and dirty conditions of all kinds. To give hints to mothers on the feeding and clothing of their children, and use their influence to induce them to send their children regularly to school. In cases of sickness, to assist in promoting the comfort of the invalid by advice and personal help. To urge, on all possible occasions, the importance of cleanliness, thrift, and temperance. They must note— 1. The general sanitary condition of the house. (a) The number of rooms and of occupants. (b) The existence of bad smells, and whether they arise from deficient ventilation, from bad drainage or from accumulations of filth.