Report by Professor W.J. Simpson on sanitary matters in various West African colonies and the outbreak of plague in the Gold Coast.
- William Simpson
- Date:
- 1909
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Report by Professor W.J. Simpson on sanitary matters in various West African colonies and the outbreak of plague in the Gold Coast. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.
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![Works, in 1904. In view of the exceptionally marshy condition of Lagos Island and of part of the mainland betAveen it and the sea, also of Apapa, where noAv the Marine Depart- ment is being established, and of Iddo Island, which is bound to be an important com- mercial centre, and, in view of a healthy site being the first consideration in the building of a town, these recommendations should be given innnediate effect to. One or two of the most recent, ])owGrful and best dredgers employed for reclamation purposes, and ada])ted to the requirements of Lagos and its neighbourhood, should be placed exclusively at the disposal of the Sanitary Department, and should not be taken away either for dredging the bai- or reclaiming swamps in other |)arts of Southern Nigeria. There are other towns and mud flats, such as Forcados, Burutu, Warri, &c., where reclamation of swauips and raising of the ground arc necessary for development, and where probably the employmeiu. of a dredger would be of advantage, but for these another dredger should he rerpiisitioned so that the routine work at Lagos may not be interrupted. A weekly record of the Avork done by the dredger should form part of the ainiual sanitary report. Apart from tlie unhealthiness of the site there is the unhealthiness which arises in toAvns in the tropics from an inefficient sanitary administration ; thus there is iti Lagos, as in other towns, the same inattention to the laying out of streets and to the regulation of buildings and building plots ; hence, except in the European and Brazilian quarter, the town is extremely congested and insanitar}-, and there are the insanitary conditions arising from an inadequate Avater su[)ply, inefficient method of disposal of the sewage and refuse, and an insufiicient surface drainage for the rapid disposal of the flood water. In Accra, notAvithstanding its exceptionally healthy site, the croAvding together and congestion of the houses and huts in the plague-infected parts were so great and produced such a bad state of sanitation that no remedy short of demolition AA^as of any use. The liuddUng together of the huts and liouses excluded the possibility of efficient scavenging and drainage and brought about a condition wherein |)uddles containing urine and sulliage AA^ater faA^oured the breeding of the larviB of certain malarial-bearing anopheles. The Avater-courses in Acc;ra Avcre blocked and out of level until Dr. Jiarker took them in hand. The Avater supply of the natives is obtained from Avells and ponds often unprotected. In Winneba the toAvn is dotted over Avith large anrl small excavations, which in the rainy season are stagnant pools. Repetition of Insanitarjj Coiididon in New Towns and Trading Centres. (33) As trade increases and the country is being opened up, new towns are arising. Sekondi 10 years ago was a small village. Now it is an important town and a very badly laid out one, with insanitary native villages blocking the Avay to European expansion on healthy sites. The insanitary conditions product!A^e of disease and malaria common to the old towns have sprung up here anew, and it will be costly to make it healthy and provide good sites for Eru'opean houses. The same mistakes are being made in all the ncAv trading centres that are arising that I have seen, and there is a repetition of the same insanitary conditions that render the old unhealthy. Little attention is paid to site, and if it is a l)ad site measures are not taken to im})roA-e it first ; the clearance of bush is neglected, the huts are huddled together, and the houses irregularly arranged. The streets are not laid out, the water sup]3ly is not considered, puddles an-^ ponds are not ]>revented from being formed near the houses, and drainage is not provided. Everything deA'elo[)s in a haphazard Avay, and Avith it malaria ; and yet it is possible, and should be a guiding principle in sanitation, or prcA'entiA-e medicine, that no malaria shall be alloAved to arise or exist in a ncAv village or toAvn, even in a malarious country. It costs little to prevent these insanitary conditions arising and to place the prospecti\'c village or town on proper sanitary lines and to maintain it on these lines, but it costs much to remoAX the insanitary conditions once they have been permitted to arise. In a few instances plans have been drawn out for a proposed village or toAvn in West Africa, but immediately the authority interested in the subject has left they have been lost sight of or dropped and never carried out. Sanitary Measures need only be Concentrated on the Towns, Villages, Rest-Houses, and Encampments. (31) The large marshes away from the A'illages and towns have little to do with the unhealthiness of the coast. They are not the endemic producers of fever among the inhabitants. It is the condition of the towns and villages and trading centres and their immediate surroundings that are the factors in the causation of disease. Sanitation does 13003 c](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21365398_0023.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
