Annual medical and sanitary report / Tanganyika Territory.

  • Tanganyika. Medical Department
Date:
[1926]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

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

    62/168 (page 52)
    SANITATION OF DAR-ES-SALAAM RURAL DISTRICT. During the past year visits have been made to Ruvu by the Medical Officer of Health and Assistant Medical Officer of Health, and an extensive “safari was undertaken by Mr. Rowe, Sanitary Superintendent, which covered a large proportion of this district. On these visits the villages have been thoroughly inspected and the work of the African District Sanitary Inspectors assessed. Unfortunately it is not possible to compare the present condition (the African District Sanitary Inspectors have been in charge of their districts now for about eighteen months) with that which existed before their arrival, as there has not previously been a sanitary survey of the area ; however, from reports by Europeans who have lived near some of the native villages both before and after the advent of the African District Sanitary Inspectors it appears that in most places they have effected considerable improvements. In other places the reports received have not been so much to the credit of the Inspector concerned, and it has been possible to appreciate in some measure the causes which contribute to his failure to produce an adequate standard of sanitation in his district. Personality of course counts most and but few Africans are capable of the sustained effort of teaching sanitation to an indifferent and unwilling people when left alone with their work, unknown except by the monthly report they furnish. Lack of backing from the local Jumbes and Akidas appears to be the next cause. The African District Sanitary Inspector is warned during his course that he is on no account to give orders, that his duty is to instruct only and that where his advice is not carried out, and in his opinion and according to what he has been taught, unhealthy conditions may result, he is to report the matter to the local representatives of the Administration, usually a Jumbe or Akida who will himself put pressure on the offenders. Unfortunately it is a frequent complaint that little or no support is given by these officers and that it is impossible to get the most necessary things done. Under these circumstances it is understandable that the keenness of the African District Sanitary Inspector wanes rapidly, and he confines his attention to the cleaner villages in his district and neglects those which are dirty where if he attempted any radical work he would become unpopular. Other factors such as the sluggishness of the people can only be affected by constant teaching backed up by the Authority of the Administration where it is necessary to call offenders to book. That the District Sanitary service should become as efficient as possible, I consider that a regular visit by a European Officer to all or part of each man s district should be paid each quarter or six months, thus the African District Sanitary Inspectors will feel that their work is being watched and both their virtues and faults are known to their superiors. In many matters too, they need the guidance of a European where anything occurs a little out of the ordinary. The training given to the boys is of course general and its adaption to local circumstances, if left entirely to the Inspector, may not always prove successful. Next, it is necessary that the Administration encourage the Jumbes and Akidas to support by every means the work of the Inspectors. At present there seems to be a great reluctance to bring pressure to bear upon offenders, and though of course educa¬ tion is vastly preferable to compulsion yet in the initiation of a programme of sanitary reform it is impossible to proceed except by steps of heart-breaking slowness unless, in addition to the hypothetical dangers prophesied by the African District Sanitary Inspector, there is added some brisker and more obvious punishment for those who flout its teachings. It is hoped that the establishment of Native Authorities will do much to solve the latter part of the problem.