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GENERAL INVALIDITY.
With the increased facilities at our disposal there is no excuse why
conditions of occupation or environment should have a detrimental effect on
the health of citizens. It will be necessary, however, to keep a watchful eye on
the conditions that govern Juvenile Employment for some years to come.
The children who attend our feeding centres look very well, and as free
dinners are given on financial grounds, I think that one may safely assume
that these children come from homes where the father is either unemployed
or is earning poor wages in proportion to the number of children in the
family.
There are, however, several cases of malnutrition occurring amongst
the children of those whose economic conditions are above that usually allowed
by the Ministry of Health. Mere food alone will not rectify the error in children
of this class. They will need careful investigation and diet prescribed to suit
the needs of individual cases.
In future more attention will have to be given to patients who have suffered
from infectious diseases. Such children should be clinically examined once or
twice a year as they are particularly prone to chest diseases.
As regards influenza, the year was very quiet; there were only two deaths
registered as occurring from this disease. The number of notified cases of
pneumonia was lower—63 compared with 77 last year.