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Mortality from Tuberculosis in the Borough of Ealing has fallen
by 60% in the last ten years and by 27.5% since 1952. This last
figure is exceptional but otherwise these figures are comparable
with those for England and Wales as a whole.
Impressive as the figures are we must not forget that the fall
in the number of deaths from tuberculosis has been going on, albeit
but gradually at the start, for the last one hundred years. In the
decenium 1851-60 the annual deaths numbered 70,000 in a
population of only 19 million. It is interesting to contemplate
briefly the factors which have contributed to the prevention and
treatment of this disease.
The improvement in the position by the end of the nineteenth
century was due mainly to the progress of sanitary reform. Great
improvement in the living conditions of the people followed the
Public Health Act of 1875 which confirmed the recommendations
of the Sanitary Commission of 1869-71, and aimed at securing the
drainage of houses, the sewage of towns, the scavenging of streets,
the removal of house refuse, wholesome conditions within houses
and the isolation of infectious persons.
The progress made since the beginning of this century can be
conveniently described by dividing this period into three parts, the
first from the beginning of the century until the end of the 1st
World War, the second dealing with the inter war years and the
third period being the years since the outbreak of World War II.
During the first period, the provision of tuberculosis dispensaries
and the increase in the number of beds for the exclusive
use of patients suffering from tuberculosis, were two invaluable
steps forward. It is interesting to note that at first voluntary
associations provided all the dispensaries and most of the available
beds, but by 1911, Sanitary Authorities had provided 14 dispensaries,
and by 1919 the number of beds had almost trebled the 1911 figure.