ཟ| ?། ༄། ‛། །།
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
19
Reference :-
HC.O. 885
23 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO
1908
1910
1912
Year.
20
Sex Incidence.
-Government Public Health Department,
38982
Georgetown.
Mało.
Female
Total.
789
4
3
14
7
12 ୫
26
15
No. 8.
WINDWARD ISLANDS.
THE ACTING GOVERNOR to THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
(Received 11 November, 1913.)
(No. 163.)
Grenada, 20th October, 1913. SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, Windward Islands, Miscellaneous, of the 26th August, and of your telegram of the 22nd ultimo,* announcing the intended visit to the British West Indies of Mr. Wickliffe Rose, Director of the International Health Commission of the United States of America, in connection with the enquiry by that Commission into the prevalence of ankylos- tomiasis and the adoption of measures for its eradication.
2. I enclose herewith the reports made by the Administrators of St. Vincent your and St. Lucia in compliance with the request contained in the last paragraph of despatch.
3. In Grenada I obtained reports from all of the Medical Officers and appointed a Committee of the three leading doctors to consider those reports and compile a memorandum on the subject, copy of which I enclose. I also forward copy of the Grenada Ankylostomiasis Ordinance and of the regulations made there- under, and copy of the leaflet on the disease referred to by the Committee, many thousands of which have been distributed among the labouring class of the Colony.
The Committee omit to mention the good work in connection with this disease which is being done by the District Sanitary Inspectors, who are constantly on the move among the labourers' cottages, advising and insisting on the burial of excreta, and on the necessity of personal cleanliness.
4. I shall furnish Mr. Rose on his arrival with the above information, and he will be afforded every facility for his enquiry and work.
I have, &c.,
E. DRAYTON,
Acting Governor.
Enclosure 1 in No. 8.
ADMINISTRATOR, St. Vincent, to ACTING GOVERNOR, Windward Islands. (Saint Vincent. No. 94.)
Government House, St. Vincent, 26th September, 1913.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the Secretary of State's despatch, Miscellaneous, of the 28th August, 1913, relative to the eradication of ankylostomiasis, and, as desired, to enclose copy of a memorandum prepared by the Medical Officer, Kingstown District, giving such particulars as are known of the prevalence and distribution of the disease in the Colony.
2. It is true, as Dr. Durrant points out, that no organized campaign has been undertaken to cope with this disease, but this may chiefly be attributed to lack of the funds that would be necessary to ensure the proper supervision and carrying out of such measures as would have to be adopted. Some three years ago the Govern- ment had to decide whether it would spend such funds as it had at its disposal upon a yaws or an ankylostomiasis extermination campaign. The conclusion at that time
• No 3; and 29172: not printed.
21
was that yawe was creating more ravaging results amongst the labouring class than ankylostomiasis, and that whilst the former disease in many cases was actually incapacitating altogether the labourers from work, the latter illness in the largest percentage of cases was to be found only in a moderate degree, and that it had usually a limiting effect on the output of work by a labourer rather than causing total cessation of labour, as in the case of yaws.
3. Though I am pleased to be able to state that, owing especially to the introduc- tion of the salvarsan (606) cure, many patients have since that time been discharged as cured from the Yaws Hospital, which was established at that time, still a good deal remains to be accomplished before any relaxation of expenditure on that disease can be attempted.
4. The only legislation in St. Vincent which affects the question of ankylos- tomiasis is contained in Section 24 (1) of the Public Health Ordinance, 1910, and I therefore enclose for information a typed extract of that section. Outside town boundaries I regret to state that the provisions of this section are practically in- operative. I trust, however, that the institution of the Sanitary Department recom- mended in my despatch, No. 77, of 21st August, 1913, may have some effect in remedying the situation; but one of the main difficulties to be overcome is the apathy displayed by the labourers themselves in most matters of hygiene.
I have, &c.,
His Excellency
Edward Drayton, Esquire, C.M.G.,
&c.,
&c., Grenada.
HIS HONOUR,
&c.,
C. GIDEON MURRAY,
Administrator.
Dr. DURRANT to ADMINISTRATOR.
IT has been estimated that about two-thirds of the labouring population in St. Vincent are infected with ankylostomiasis.
This infection, in a moderate degree, exists throughout the Colony; the more severe degrees of infection being confined to certain portions of the No. 1 and No. 3 districts.
No organized measures have been taken to cope with the disease or its preven- tion, and all that is being done resolves itself into the treatment of those cases that are sent into the Colony Hospital for treatment. These are rid of their parasites, but unfortunately they go out of hospital only to become reinfected, and return in a couple of years.
44
No fæcal sanitation" exists in the districts beyond "Town" boundaries, and unless and until this defect be remedied it is impossible to hope for other results.
C. H. D., Medical Officer, Kingstown District.
19th September, 1913.
EXTRACT FROM PUBLIC HEALTH ORDINANCE, 1910.
"24 (1). Every building where persons are employed or are intended to be employed in any trade, business, or manufacture shall be provided with sufficient and suitable accommodation in the way of sanitary conveniences, having regard to the number of persons employed or in attendance at such building, and also where persons of both sexes are employed or intended to be employed or in attendance, with proper separate accommodation for persons of each sex.'
SIR,
Enclosure 2 in No. 8.
ADMINISTRATOR OF ST. LUCIA to ACTING GOVERNOR, Windward Islands. (Saint Lucia. No. 107.)
Government Office, Saint Lucia, 11th October, 1913. WITH reference to the Secretary of State's despatch, Windward Islands, Miscellaneous, of the 26th August, 1913, relative to ankylostomiasis, I have the
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