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Clothing and Footgear. The standard of clothing and
footgear of the children on the whole continued to be satisfactory.
Cases are, of course, always arising where the
parents, through unemployment or poverty, find it difficult
to provide adequate and satisfactory clothing and footgear
for their children. It was possible to help a number of these
cases during 1937. Boots and shoes, together with garments
suitable for school children, which were no longer considered
serviceable at the Infectious Diseases Hospital were again
passed over to the Attendance Department after thorough
disinfection had been carried out. These were then distributed
to the most needy families. Assistance of this nature
was also granted by the local branch of the Invalid Children's
Aid Association.
(c) Minor Ailments and Diseases of the Skin. The minor
ailments found at the routine and special inspections are
indicated in Table II.
Ringworm of the body, scabies, impetigo, other skin
diseases, minor injuries, diseases of the ears and eyes (including
otorrhoca and blepharitis) together with miscellaneous
conditions such as sores and chilblains were the common
ailments detected.
Of the children examined as routine cases in the schools,
0.82% were found to be suffering from skin diseases. Six were
suffering from impetigo and eight from other minor skin
ailments.
Three hundred and sixty-five, or 13.37% of the special
cases examined at the Health Centre were discovered to be
suffering from diseases of the skin. There were one ease of
ringworm of the scalp, twenty cases of ringworm of the body,
nineteen cases of scabies, one hundred and twenty-seven of
impetigo, and one hundred and ninety-eight of other skin
conditions.
Ringworm of the scalp is not of frequent occurrence
amongst school children in Wimbledon.
(d) Visual Defects and External Eye Disease. There
were eight cases of external eye disease amongst the 1,812
routine children examined. This gives a figure of 0.44%.
Six of the cases were due to blepharitis and two to conjunctivitis.
At the special inspections there were seventy-four cases
or 2.71% due to external eye disease. Forty-four were due to
blepharitis, and thirty to conjunctivitis.