View report page

158
These children are in urgent need of an open-air school.
Of the 7,358 children examined at the Routine Inspections
during the year, 34 were found to be suffering from
Tuberculosis.
Assuming that the same proportion of children who
were not examined suffered from Tuberculosis, and taking
the total number of children attending the schools in
Willesden at 23,655 (the number attending in June, 1914),
the total number of school children suffering from Tuberculosis
would be 110. These children also are in urgent need
of an open-air school.
Of the 7,358 children examined at the Routine Inspections,
83 were suspected to be suffering from Tuberculosis;
that is to say, they were probably in an early stage of the
disease, although the physical signs were not sufficiently
developed to warrant a positive diagnosis.
On the same basis of calculation, the estimated total
number of these children attending the schools is 267.
Besides these 409 children a considerable proportion of
the children suffering from one or more of the following
conditions: anæmia, mal-nutrition, enlarged glands, and
adenoids, etc., should be in attendance at an open-air
school. They form the class of children commonly spoken
of as "Pretubercular," a term which indicates that, while
there is no evidence of tubercular disease, the children are
in a condition which has been observed to be very frequently
followed by its development.
Indeed, it is a question if the last two classes of
children (Pretubercular and suspected Tubercular), although
not so urgently in need of special provision as the definitely
tubercular, are not the class for which in the long run the
establishment of an open-air school is most desirable, since
we have good reason to hope that by sending them to an
open-air school we can prevent them from developing the
disease which is hanging over them, and turn them out