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tion of unfamiliar complaints, such as intestinal protozoa and
helminths, as well as cholera and other gastro-intestinal disorders,
is made easier by the speed of modern travel. Again, the introduction
into the country of rabies during the current year is not
only a timely warning of what could happen if vigilance is relaxed
but also brings into the limelight the potential of animals as
disseminators of disease. International adoption of the "container"
and "dumb lighter" systems of bulk transport will also bring their
own peculiar difficulties to the port and riparian authorities.
Concurrent with the higher proportion of elderly persons in the
community is the serious increase in the chronic and degenerative
diseases which are already claiming a greater share of the country's
resources.
A great deal has already been achieved in the field of preventive
medicine, but more effective use of existing epidemiological knowledge
could produce even better results.
Much of the future success of the preventive services lies in
establishing the aetiologies of the non-communicable diseases and
the ability of science to eliminate, arrest or ameliorate the effects of
those genetically determined.
Alcoholism
It is estimated that, in one form or another, alcoholism today
is afflicting one in every 100 adults and, furthermore, there is
reason to believe that this increase has a direct relationship with
the rise in crimes of violence.
Although heavy drinking and drunkenness have declined during
this century, since the last war there appears to have been a
resurgence especially in the privacy of the home and, moreover,
evidence is accumulating which suggests that the problem is
increasingly to be found among young adults. This is rightly
causing great concern and demands urgent attention.
Psychiatry gives no precise cause for alcoholism but agrees
that anxiety in adolescence, depression in middle age and loneliness
in old age are important contributory factors.
Earliest records show that man's contact with alcohol was
mainly of religious origin and that to condemn its use on similar
grounds is not only inconsistent but unlikely to command universal
support or acclaim.
A first step towards getting the problem of alcoholism into
proper perspective is to acknowledge the fact that alcohol has
always been a part of man's world and that to seek its abolition
is futile. Indeed, any attempt at a solution which does not admit
to the pleasant and beneficial effects of alcohol is doomed to failure.