AnnualReport-1923

M 46

The deaths from Tubercular Diseases (all types) are shown distributed according to age groups by the following Table for eight years 1914 to 1923 omitting the years 1916 and 1918.

Years 1914 1915 1917 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 Age under 1 year 88 59 193 108 231 219 200 213 1 to 5 years 139 195 290 302 469 340 393 419 5 to 15 years 80 97 129 139 204 157 180 169 15 to 25 years 101 110 124 159 171 181 203 283 25 to 45 years 424 431 486 569 641 643 640 673 15 to 60 years 188 199 205 258 278 256 351 301 Over 60 years 34 32 43 62 65 91 93 63 Total 1,053 1,123 1,469 1,597 2,059 1,887 2,060 2,071 Deaths (Chinese) 9,316 7,723 10,244 11,348 12,151 11,604 14,241 15,289 Percentage of Chinese deaths due to Tuberculosis 11.3 14.5 14.3 14.0 16.9 16.2 14.4 13.5

Tetanus and Convulsions.

These diseases accounted for 146 deaths of children under five years of age.

Thus out of 74 deaths ascribed to Tetanus 54 were of children under one month and 5 of children over one month and under one year.

Convulsions accounted for 72 deaths of children under five years of age. Of these 3 were under one month and 42 over one month but under one year of age.

Malaria.

The deaths from this disease were 674 (454 in 1922). Of these 7 were Non-Chinese (8 in 1922) and 667 Chinese. This number of deaths is a percentage of 4.33 of the total registered deaths.

The deaths from Malaria in the City of Victoria numbered 260 (116 in 1922) in an estimated population of 350,000 giving a rate of 0.74 per 1,000. In 1922 there were 116 deaths in an estimated population of 340,000 giving a rate of 0.34 per 1,000.

The deaths from Malaria for this year show a considerable increase, their percentage of the total deaths being the highest on record for the last ten years.

To what extent this means an increase in local infection it is not possible to say.

That there has been such an increase is however most probable.

Building operations have extended urban districts into what were formerly purely rural districts and it has been quite impossible for anti-malarial measures of permanent character to be completed in anticipation of the building and occupation of new houses in rural districts.