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defective eyesight, in candidates for Council appointments involving vehicle driving.
In this connection, as mentioned elsewhere in this report, the opportunity was taken
during the year to utilise a "vision screener " which became available, and which
appears to be helpful in this aspect of the work.
With regard to the incidence of infectious disease the picture is one of some
satisfaction in that the number of cases of every notifiable disease continued either
to be nil or was less than last year.
The epidemic of measles which otherwise would have been expected during
the winter of 1968/69 had not materialised by the end of December, 1968, but
notifications began to rise steeply thereafter and this tendency seemed to suggest
that the initial acceptance rate for immunisation had not been sufficient for effective
control. The particularly low number of notifications during the year may well be
related to the comparatively high incidence of measles over the previous three years,
especially unexpected in 1966.
It will take some time before a reliable and clear evaluation can be made of
the impact of the present scale of measles vaccination on the incidence of the disease.
Enfield parents have always shown a greater interest in vaccination and
immunisation than have parents generally throughout the country and I am glad
to be able this year to report a further improvement not only in the numbers but
also in the percentages of children vaccinated and immunised during the year, the
increase being in most cases between three and four per cent. Statistics again this
year, as shown in Table 19, detail the favourable local position in relation to the
country as a whole.
Nationally and locally, highlights in the field of mental health were the third
and final annual Mental Health Week, which took place in June and which was
promoted by the National Association for Mental Health and the National Society
for Mentally Handicapped Children, and the seventh International Congress on
Mental Health, held in London from the 12th to the 17th August, the National
Association for Mental Health acting as host. On both of these occasions members
and officers of the Borough Council played an active part.
The importance of the School Health Service must not be underestimated in
the absence of spectacular developments. An increased amount of valuable basic
health promotion was undertaken and it was gratifying to find most school children
in a generally satisfactory condition of health.
Nevertheless, there was a timely reminder in a circular letter from the Ministry
of Health in which attention was drawn to the importance of the early detection of
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