Annual report of the Medical and Sanitary Department / Sierra Leone.
- Sierra Leone. Medical and Sanitary Department
- Date:
- [1930]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Annual report of the Medical and Sanitary Department / Sierra Leone. Source: Wellcome Collection.
13/118 page 7
![African Officials.—A considerable increase in tbe number of the days on tbe sick list combined with a drop in the total number sick serves to produce a set of figures somewhat misleading as to the general health of the African official community, and while it is true that the numbers of invalidings and deaths have increased it must be borne in mind that with a depression in the financial state of the Colony, the yearly fluctuation in the composi¬ tion of the African official community has almost ceased, thus leaving us with a smaller number of officers with a higher “ total of number of years lived ” on which to base our percentages; in other words, stasis brings about a higher average age per officer and thus makes possible the greater percentage of incidence of those diseases common in the middle years of life. It will be noticed from Table III that of the total of twenty invalidings and deaths only two can be attributed to causes essentially tropical and that diseases of middle and later life account for no less than nine cases. The average African is averse to institutional treatment; the increase in the average number of days on the sick list combined with capacity occupation of the Connaught Hospital wards can thus be taken to indicate an increasing appreciation of the value of hospital treatment. TABLE—III. Health of African Officials. Table showing Sick, Invalidings and Death-rates of Af rican Officials. — 1928. 1929. 1930. Total number of official residents 1,265 969 979 Average number resident... 1,050 969 970 Total number on sick list ... 967 1,057 1,048 Total days on sick list 6,415 7,486 9,052 Average daily number on sick list ... 17-52 25 24-8 Percentage of daily sick to average number resident 1-66 2-58 2-55 Average number of days on sick list to each patient 6-63 7-08 8-63 Average sick time to each resident ... 6-10 7-72 9-33 Total number invalided 25 8 12 Percentage of invalidings to total resident 1-98 •83 1-22 Percentage of invalidings to average number resident ... 2-38 •83 1-23 Total deaths 9 6 12 Percentage of deaths to total residents •71 •61 •91 Percentage of deaths to average number resident GO Ox •61 •92 Causes of Invalidings and Deaths of African Officials. Causes. Invalided. Died. Aterio-Sclerosis and Myocarditis 1 Aterio-Sclerosis and General Debility 1 — Aterio-Sclerosis and Chronic Rheumatism ... 1 — Auricular Fibrillation and Perineal Fistula? 1 — Chronic Arthritis 1 — Chronic Bronchitis — 1 Diarrhoea — 1 Disseminated Sclerosis ... 1 — Fracture of Right Tibia and Fibula 1 — Glycosuria and Senile Choroiditis 1 — Local Injury ... — 1 Malaria — ] Neurasthenia — 1 Pulmonary Tuberculosis 2 — Senile Debility 1 — Stiffness and Pain in the Dorsal Region 1 — Syphilitic Aortitis — 1 Valvular Disease of the Heart — 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31491716_0013.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
