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11
"Admittedly there are some shopkeepers in Bromley who make
food protection a principle of their trade—many of their principles
could be well copied by other traders in food stuffs. Not all
butchers in Bromley have the closed shop windows; not all take
sufficient action against fly contamination, but there is improvement
and the public are beginning to demand the principles governing
purity in their food supply. This is typically demonstrated by the
increased demand for graded milks. The antiquated and unhygienic
method of delivery by can is discouraged—a polished urn
does not always indicate clean milk inside."
The third change that I would record is the improvement in
the stature of the school child who no longer comes to school dirty
and verminous. No longer do you see ringworm of the scalp at
the school clinics, nor rickets, nor gross malnutrition, nor grossly
neglected dental hygiene.
And finally, the change in Infectious Diseases. Diphtheria
has disappeared from our returns. Scarlet Fever is not now a killing
disease. Typhoid Fever is rare, and the common infectious diseases
such as Measles and Whooping Cough show definite signs of
decreasing virulence. Tuberculosis is well on the way to be
conquered ; the incidence is falling in Bromley in spite of increased
facilities in diagnosis, and its death rate reduced by 77%.
It is indeed pleasing to have served the Health Committees
through this period of years when the Public Health Service proved
its worth, but it is still true that when one problem is solved
another arises in its place; when the problems associated with the
young mother and baby have been practically conquered, the
problem of the care of the aged arises. What has been done in
the Child Welfare Service can be done for the care of the aged
and a field of work is wide open for prevention or for easing of
incapacity of the aged. Our streets have been cleaned but we still
have our dog nuisances and our atmosphere polluted. We have
our clean food, but there are instances of carelessness in handling.
We have not yet reached the stage of one house one family. The
stress and strains of urbanisation have brought with them the stress
diseases, cardio-vascular diseases, duodenal ulcers and other so
called psycho-somatic diseases. Until we learn the way to live with
these stresses, such diseases will continue to swell the death and
sickness returns. We spend too much time in treatment by the
way of the psychological approach, and not enough time in treating
the cause and the building up of a family unity and discipline.
There has been the great reduction in the Tuberculosis death
rate, but we get an increase in deaths from Cancer of the Lungs.
The air we breathe must be cleared of all carcinogenic factors.
We must learn afresh that prevention of disease is a practical