[Report 1942] / School Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough.

  • Bury (Greater Manchester, England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1942
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1942] / School Medical Officer of Health, Bury County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/40 (page 11)
    In Uie 1933-42 ten year period fifty per cent, of the population lived to ages over 05 years, as compared with twent}--six per cent, wlio lived over 05 years in 1393-1902. tlnly eight per cent, of the population under five died in the first period, in contrast to twenty-six per cent, of the population who died under the age of five in tlie second.x At a very modest and conservative estimate, assuming that for every c'ase of fatal illness four or five cases end in recovery, there would be apjiroximately 10,080 fewer cases of non-fatal illnesses, and 2,190 less deaths in 1933-13 than would liave been the case had the pojTulation Leen under the conditions that existed in 1893-1902. ■ \ \ Tliis is in comparing the two decennia, one at the beginning and the other at the end <»f the fifty-year period. In contrasting the otheV, ten }-ear pericKls it has been found that there was a manifest tendenc3Wto progressive increases in lives saved and in avoidances of attacks of non-fatal illnesses. Not so many years before the introduction of the 1875 rul.)lic Health Act there was little or no drainage, or vrorse, dangerous drainage; water supph’ was often polluted, and decomposing refuse was abundant and widespread. vSmall-pox, typhus, and typhoid fever were common. People lived in dark insaniiar}' and ill-ventilated luibiiatioji.s. There were long hours for men, women and children in ill-\-entilated and filth\- factories. I’licontrolled offensive trades spread their malodorous fumes over the scene. 'fhe work of cleaning u]) what to-da_v would be cotisidered intolerable (.'onditions retpiired tlte habour of a Hercules. Slowly and steadily the gigantic task of im])ruving living c<uiditions has been carried out, and will still be carried out, but with increa'^ed tempo iit the future. The jtromotion of ]mblic health is a vital concern which affects everyone. Prom earliest times mankind has never l>een without the instinct of self-])reservation or of the im})uKes of life ititerest and life ])rotection. Whatever the future tnav hold m store in tluil ])ublic health work ma_v expand and embrace all activities which inrlude the cming of disease, it will be pre-eminentlv of a ])re\enti\'e r.atvre. 'fhe whole work may be carried out in a ce>mmunal or legional wav rather than by separate and sometimes 'o^•erla])]n*ng IxHlies: .V great ])r<.)])ortion of the t(4ai sickness and mortalitv before old age is entirelv pre\entable. Th.e increased aj^plicaticm of our ])resent know- ledge through pul)lic health administration now a])])ears to be the most important factor of the tiines. Sound health is the greatest national and jrersonal asset, and ('enturies have taught us that ])ublic ill-health and high mortalitv are costlv ami fdten disastrous. W’ithin limits, a poi)tdation can detennine its own death rate and amount of sickness.