View report page

30
As regards clothing only 5 could be classified as bad or
unsuitable at Lewisham and none at Downham. One feels that this,
perhaps, is not quite a true picture of the standard of clothing in the
whole Borough as it was noted that the really careless mothers did
not accept the invitations to attend. The same remarks apply to
the numbers under the heading of cleanliness. Even among many
of those who did attend one could see that the mothers had taken
some extra trouble to clean up the faces and hands of the children
for the examination but had forgotten the feet. Many times some
hesitation occurred when mothers were asked to remove the shoes
and stockings of their children and in these cases invariably the feet
were found to be dirty. The figures regarding nutrition are fairly
satisfactory as 51.6 per cent, were graded as good and 25.8 per cent,
as fair. Most of the 22.5 per cent, of children with poor nutrition
were seen at the Lewisham Clinic, to which all toddlers, except
those living at Grove Park, Downham and Bellingham were invited.
Rickets takes the highest place in the diseases and defects found.
32 per cent, of the children showed some signs of this disease such
as knock knees, bow legs, etc. None of the deformities, however,
were gross enough to call for elaborate orthopaedic treatment. 28
per cent, of the children showed dental caries of a degree that
required treatment and 26 per cent, were found with enlarged
Tonsils and Adenoids which required operative treatment. 24 per
cent, showed enlarged cervical glands which were due to the
carious teeth or enlarged and unhealthy tonsils and adenoids. Only
20 per cent, were associated with symptoms of bronchitis and' 1 per
cent, suffered from heart disease but 12 per cent, showed some
degree of anaemia as judged by the colour of the conjunctivae, lips
and general appearance. 15 per cent, suffered from anorexia and
most of the only children figured in this category, but apart from
anorexia, diseases and defects of the alimentary system were
markedly few. Enuresis was complained of in 11 girls and 19 boys,
making a percentage of 12. Otorrhoea was the only ear defect
found and this occurred only in 6 cases. Eye defects also were few,
4 squints and 1 myopia. 58 of the children or 24 per cent, were
unvaccinated, an unsatisfactory figure as regards safeguarding the
population against small pox infection.