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HEALTH PROPAGANDA
The importance of the education of the public in matters
of health has become increasingly realised during the past few
years and there are many new methods of propaganda which have been
devised to reach the public ear or eye. Throughout the year the
staff of the Department continued this work and poster publicity,
talks to individuals, talks to small groups, talks to larger groups,
some of them illustrated with film strin Pictures, were continuous.
Special subjects for poster publicity were influenza, smoke abatement,
anti-diphtheria immunisation and clean food, as these points became
topical.
A campaign in the spring of the year was organised by the
Ministry of Health for a nation wide drive for anti-diphtheria
immunisation because of the dangerous drop in the number of parents
bringing their children to be immunised. The local health authority
co-operated with the local sanitary authority in this, and new posters,
film slides and leaflets on the subjects were given as wide
distribution as possible.
The question of smoke abatement having become very urgent as a
result of the great fog of December, 1952, part of the year was devoted
to special work in the education of the public against unnecessary
smoke emission, the use of smokeless fuel and special appliances for
burning this material were advocated and advice given to boiler house
stokers and railway engine firemen in an effort to reduce smoke from
factories and railway sidings.
There was a continued drive for the improvement of food handling
and distribution in the Borough, and shops, canteens, catering
establishments and hawkers were encouraged to bring their standards
not only up to those recommended in the bye-laws for this purpose,
but beyond.
At a Seminar held in London by the Central Council for Health
Education Medical Officers for all types of authorities gathered to
exchange information and ideas on the subject of Health Education in
a Sanitary Authority. It was interesting to compare the results
obtained by different methods of approach to Health Education and
many helpful suggestions have since been adopted within the Borough.
It is believed that certain ideas of our own were useful to other
authorities o
Home Accidents
The very high figure for Home Accidents which had been recently
publicised gave rise to concern about this matter. As all home
accidents are preventable this seemed a very important subject for
health education, and a request was made to the local medical
practitioners, the Medical Directors of the local hospitals and to
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