[Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Buckingham Borough.

  • Buckingham (England). Borough Council.
Date:
1966
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1966] / Medical Officer of Health, Buckingham Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    4/14 (page 1)
    BOROU&H OF BUCKINGH/Jl Castle House, West Street, Buckingham. August, 1967 Mr, Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen, I have the honour to present the -nnual Report of the Medical Officer of Health for the year 1966. Infectious Diseases variety of the common childhood infections invaded the area: chicken pox and mumps in particularj more troublesome was a german measles (rubella) outbreak that caused me some concern, in view of the risk of this apparently mild condition to the expectant mother at the beginning of her pregnancy. There are a number of children in the area severely handicapped as a result of this ante-natal exposure, and an effort was made to try and ensure that women in the first four months of their pregnancy who were in contact ?7ith rubella went to their private doctors. The publicity given was much wider than anticipated, but it seems that many women did accept the advice and were given appropriate preventive treatment by their doctors. A follow up study has been arranged so that any who missed this trea,tment, and who gave birth to babies at risk are screened for defects, and offered appropriate help early. Notified cases 1965 1966 Measles 6 85 Dysentery (Sonne) 3 5 Whooping Cough 1 ' ' 5 Health Education The main theme'for Health Education during I966 was Safety in the Home which included poison hazards and home accidents. A special effort ’was-also made to encourage schoolchildren (and their parents) on the value of Foot Health. most encouraging report was received from the Ministry of Health shov/ing survey data indicating that the amount of smoking among adolescents was falling, and there had been a substantial drop in the proportion of cigarette smokers in men and women in recent years. It will, of course, take some time for this to be reflected in any fall in lung cancer deaths or heart and bronchitis morbidity, but one can feel that the effort put into anti-smoking propaganda is not entirely