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time in the local press. We are extending our work in the schools,
a field of paramount importance; while we undertake special campaigns
from time to time to focus attention on important aspects of
health and the prevention of disease.
It must be realised that the results of our efforts are not readily
discernible. We cannot say that, for a certain expenditure, we can
guarantee certain results. Nor, although we believe this to be the
case, can we say that our expenditure on health education has saved
the community a given sum of money. What we can and do claim
must emphatically is that a progressive policy of health education
will be followed, either immediately or over the years, by results
which have quite incalculable value. If these results are sometimes
intangible, at least for a period, their value is not thereby diminished.
When one remembers the infinitesimal sums being expended
on health education as compared with the other branches of Local
Government expenditure, and when one realises that health education
lies at the very root of a healthy community, the arguments in
its favour are surely undeniable.
It must also be clear that Southgate is in many ways the ideal
district in which to put into operation an enlightened and enlightening
programme of health education. It may be said that most of our
citizens are quite capable of knowing what to do and that, in fact,
they require the minimum of guidance. On the other hand, it must
equally be realised that, for one reason or another, mistakes are made
and errors committed. Too often these mistakes or errors are not
deliberate, or even accidental. They stem from lack of true knowledge,
from the inherent apathy which has always beset the human
race until something goes wrong. I make no apology for once again
stressing this point. If we were to neglect health education, either
because the cost was considered exorbitant or because it was not
thought worth the trouble, the effect might not be immediately seen,
but without the slightest doubt they would, in time, be felt. It was
for this reason that the purchase of a new sound film projector was
advocated; for the same reason we intend to concentrate on arranging
an attractive Clean Food Campaign during 1955. I would take
this opportunity of thanking the Public Health Committee and the
Borough Council for their continued support and encouragement,
without which our programme of health education could never
have been carried out. I am satisfied that we are working along the
right lines, although I am still not convinced that we have fully
explored all available avenues. We will continue our policy of
exploration, until we can be reasonably sure that the public is fully
informed on matters concerning health and well-being—the two
terms are not necessarily synonymous— and that no section of the
community has been overlooked.
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