London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Stoke Newington 1905
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Stoke Newington, The Metropolitan Borough]
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10
PHTHISIS (CONSUMPTION).
The 40 cases voluntarily notified during 1905 occurred in 38
different homes.
The incapacity to, work on account of Phthisis costs London over
£4,000,000 a year, according to the computation of a great authority.
This enormous loss alone well warrants a considerable outlay in an effort to reduce the prevalence of this disease.
| Year. | Kate for Stoke Newington. | Rate for London generally. |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 1.30 | - |
| 1902 | 1.24 | 1.62 |
| 1903 | 1.30 | 1.50 |
| 1904 | 1.70 | 1.63 |
| 1905 | 1.31 | 1.46 |
All will agree that the measures designed by sanitary authorities
for the prevention and relief of phthisis can only be regarded as
complete when they are carried with certainty and promptitude to
those who more particularly stand in need of them, and the initiated
recognise that the measures at present adopted do not reach that
desirable standard. It is necessary to know early where all the
infected homes are, and this information can alone be obtained by
compulsory notification of the disease.
At the present time we are disposed to overrate the value of sanaforiums
and we are constructing and equipping them on extravagant
and faddy lines. It must be borne in mind that without sanatoriums,
phthisis has been reduced in this country some 66 per cent. during the
past sixty years; and efforts to still further improve the adverse
conditions under which so many of the community are compelled to
live and work, and to reduce the death-rate due to ignorance, will
achievc the best results; moreover, they possess the advantage of at