Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia.

  • Southern Rhodesia. Department of Health.
Date:
[1929]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the public health / Southern Rhodesia. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    26/88 (page 20)
    some time some method of following up cases and of tracing the con- \e^ance of infection in the kraals, the cost of which would be altogether prohibitive at the present. In the meantime this institution at Mtoko is doing' excellent work in providing a haven and skilled treatment for large numbeis ol suffering humanity who could not otherwise have been got at and who would have remained in their kraals, a misery to themselves and a menace to their families. I am glad to say that up to the present they seem quite resigned to remain at the institution, and have shown no desire to leaa e and return to their homes. At this clinic settlement they are allowed considerable freedom, have their own gardens, live their own lives, and altogether the conditions under which they live are infinitely better than those in their own homes. Venereal Disease. Clinics for the treatment of venereal disease have been established at various places throughout the country, and the following table gives the number of cases treated during the year at these treatment centres:— 1>lace- Authority. Cases treated. Bulawayo. Town Council. 42 Salisbury. Town Council. 275 Mnene I „ .. ^ i 700 Masasa} Belmgwe . Swedish Mission j 67g Gatooma. Government . 542 Que Que . Globe & Phoenix Mine 68 Bikiia . Government . 334 Morgenster. ILK. Mission. 535 Ndanga . Government . 10 Mtoko . Nyaderi Mission . 11 Lnkeldoorn . Wreningliam Mission . 50 Goromonzi . Government . 191 Buhera . Government . 173 3,617 In addition to the above, 559 cases of venereal disease were treated at police camps and by Government Medical Officers in the course of their duties, whilst the number of tests carried out for venereal disease at the Government 1 ublic Health Laboratory for hospitals, treatment centres and private practitioners amounted to 848. The sum expended 011 the importation of anti-syphilitic remedies during the year amounted to £1,550, this being over and above payments made to local bodies under the Public Health Act, to missionary bodies, and for the establishment and maintenance charges of Government clinics. The total cost last year of anti-venereal measures amounted approxi¬ mately to £4,700. Local authorities in the larger towns are paying more attention to this important public health problem, especially where it applies to the native in domestic service. They are falling more and more into line as regards the establishment of centres for the treatment of these cases, and °for this purpose are taking more advantage of the provisions of the Public Health Act, whereby the greater part of the expenditure incurred is refunded to them by the Government. Gradually local authorities are abandoning the standpoint, which many of them maintained, that the treatment of venereal disease was a national matter, and that the onus of the search for and the treatment of these diseases was the duty of the central Government and not of tlie local authority. The increase in native prostitution, and consequently of venereal disease, m the neighbourhood of towns and mining camps has been noticeable, and the greatest difficulty still continues to be experienced 111 controlling travelling native prostitutes, who have no fixed abode but wander from town to town and from mine camp to mine camp, sometimes by rail and sometimes on foot, and even by motor car. Probably the worst feature of this evil is the ease with which these women make money, and their comparative wealth, which is attracting a large number of women and young girls from the neighbouring reserves and villages, and it is not yet