THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 978, 19 November 1910, Page 3

THE PEOPLE'S HEALTH

REPORT OF THE CHIEF HEALTH j OFFICER. SOME INTERESTING FIGURES. : . j Tho annual report of the Public Health - j Department was presented to the House ' of Representatives yesterday.-The Chief I Health Officer says the general health of the peoplo has been good. Enteric Fever. f £h i ere Jias been a slight increase in th'a ' i notifications of ' enteric fever—63s, as - j against Ml last year. This increase's al- i most entirely due to a smart outbreak.of. = i the disease in the Wellington district diir- -- 1 ing the early months of this year, where ' the notifications were 278, as against 222 • during the previous year. Of this num-.:: : ber, 6a cases were notified in Wellington ' ! and suburbs. The District Health olcer- - could assign" no» special cause for this * 1 , outbreak, but with good grounds suspicion .>'• 1 mi on l^ ert^ m consignments of oysters. ;," ! i lie o?l otl^tlonSof strict fever were lesa •' j • T 1266 as a Sainst 2183; and of diph/ ! them Tjy 4&—578 ;io 624 in 1908-9. ' | Advice to Local Bodies,. j Dr. Valintine expresses the' hope thatj local authorities will take advantage .of '".i; ! Section 83 of the Hospitals Act, and " j gate to the hospital ■ boards their powers ! and responsibilities under the-Publio - i Health Act, notably with regard.to the:-V • control, of infectious • diseases. - Snoh an -- i arrangement would , make for efficiency i and economy, especially as the Hospitals -:. I and Health .Departments are how com- ■ buied under one head. -It can hardly -bo / ! gainsaid that the authority responsible - ! tor. the care and treatment of.the sick';- ! should be also, conversant with those in- i fluences that are likely, to cahse sickness. j .As matters now. -stand, the hospital- ! •boards, though responsible for .the'ac- "■ ! commodation and treatment of persons ■ i with infections diseases, have no official - ! knowledge as to -how theso diseases are <- I contracted or spread; and, even if they--'' have information as to the causa or - ' causes that are filling , their infectious - l wards, they are powerless to take cny v ! action,that- may be, considered necessary," .*■- i Tubercular Diseases. 1 I There were 800 deaths from tubercular ■' i sjf eaS M — ' 'Pulmonary consumption, ... ! 58S; other forms of tubercular disease, 211'" ' .A gradual.decline is noticeable during the last twenty years in the mortality "rata 1 ;™ m diseases, tho most noticeable - 'I drop being, in the rat© from cbnsump-" " 1 ti°n for tho qmnquennium subsequent to - ■ the initiation in 1803 of an anti-tuber- j oulosis campaign. . | . Mean D.eath-rate per 100,000." ' >; .! .. . . Other -. ! Tubercula? I Phthisis. . 'Diseases. JB9O-94 '82.2 ' 24 7 ' " 1890-99 -79.3 251 ' 1900-4 73.9- : 23 4 " • ■ 1905-9. 62.0 24.0 -.* The Birth-Rate and Marriages. l of bi l t!ls registered during; .1909 was *.8,014, or 27.29 in every 1000 per- !!? n fW T1 ? s ''iF he number ' is in.excess.'", of that for the year 1908, an increase 0f,.---a per cent., but the rate lower by o.lß' ' thousand. • Ffom 1882, until tho vear' 1899 there was a regulai-fall in the iate.- - 1 • iLi-, ' a ? d ' a£te ? falling to. 17,876'' in 189 w , have risen.to. the number first' stated, above.- The number, of 'male' child- r ' ren born during .1909 was 13,502, and of< • • • Cm l c» C n C^lld^ n ,' 13 ' 022 .- : New Zealand had! ln - /in birth-rate in Austral- ■ j (40./3); m 1900 th© case was reversed j but m 1909 the New Zealand rate waa i higher than that :of New South' Wales. .1 Victoria, and South Australia. Although;' i Aew Zealand had in.,1900 tho lowestlbiitV rate in Australasia, the rate for 1909-wha' : i . higher than the average for the-Gommon- : ; wealth, 26.40 per.looo of population; The'ro were 260 cases of twinbir-ths ami 1 case of; trip.lets.xegistered an-1909.-- . ihe number of mothers of the 26,524 chil- ' dren was 26,257; thus, on an average, ona mother in every 99. gave birth to twhk, ,- j j°Q 5 19t18 ' 102 i a - in The marriages for 1909-show-a decrease - 1 25 "P. fjw the previous-..vear. " V s 8091 or 2i5 less w 190 S. Iho rate per 1000 of the bopula- , tion was 8.33 as against 8.82 in 1908. Of tho persons married in 1909, • 143" bridogrooms and 1309 brides were under'2l' years of age. Of the bridegrooms, two and. six between- ;. - : lo and 19. Of tho brides, /nine vrero-be-. •- j Ql l^ ls 16, and -37' were between 18 - : and 17 years of. age. v The proportion of v : men married is greatest" at the ages-of-to dU,-and of womon at from 21 to '2? " • years. . • Deaths Amongst Children. Seventy-one out of every thousand'mala - children bom,' and fifty-two of '-every • ' > thousand^females, are found to hav©;'died - : betore attaining, the ago"of one year. Tho i mortality was thus one in fourteen of ■ ma e, children and one in nineteen of fe- i males in 'ftew Zealand, where conditions - vare tar .more . favourable., to infant life - i i than in Australia, at-least as far as ro.- ' i lates to the cities.' It will also be seen ! from the figures .that the chances of.:', I living during ( the first vear of age are ' greater'for female than for male infants. 'i thus, during the year. 1909 there were-— T t 10J deaths of . males ,to 72'-deaths" of-'.i 'i females under one month of age; 100 • • deaths of males to. 81.deaths of females 1 from one to throe months of age; 100 i deaths _ of males_ to 73' death of females : - from three to six months -of age;- 100 deaths _of males: to 75: deaths of females . from sis to twelve months of age; ■ 100'' deaths of males to, 74 deaths of females v ' under twelve months of age. Tho prihci- i pal causes of death in children under on© ) year in New Zealand were:—Whooping- ' ' < cough,-28; convuUions, 107/ bronchitis \ and pneumonia, 16S; diarrhoea and enteritis, 249; premature .birth, 347'; niaras-- -'- . : rauv-etc., 256; other ■ causes,- 479; total, : Other Matters of Interest. . Tho total deaths from typhoid fever , ; numbered 55 in 1909, against 90 in v the ; . previous thq average for five year bciug .58. There was an outbreak- of . measles in 1907, causing 101 deaths. In 1909 only 26- deaths from this complaint'"were recorded.' The number of deaths > from scarlet fever in 1509 was 26. Tho average annual mortality for the ten - years 1900-9 was 35. There were 41 deaths j in 1909 from whooping-cough;' 42 in 190S.Vf, 307 in 1907/ and 28 in 1906." Influenza wa3 less prevalent in 1909 than in any other year of the period shown, only 47 deaths being recorded. There were 711 deaths/' assigned to cancer in 1909, a proportion ,- of 7.32 per 10,000 persons, tho average '• number, and rate for the-five years ISOS-9 being 646 and 7.01 respectively. Deaths." of males numbered 353, and of . females 328. The death rate-from cancer is not', so great as that from tubercular diseases, but its increasing tendency is a matter of grave concern. Tho deaths from extcrnnl violence, apart from suicide,/numbered 660 in 1909—males 525, females 132. - The rate per 10.000 living was 6.03 in 1905,' , 6.42 in 1906, 6.65 in, 1907, 6.03 in 1908, and - 6.79 in 1909. Drowning caused 35 ,per . ccntv of'tha total, and 36 per cent, of tho • male deaths by accident.