Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory.

  • Tanganyika. Medical Department.
Date:
[1951]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report of the Medical Department / Tanganyika Territory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    on the Copperbelt and on the Rand, and such communal feeding systems as exist are very crude. Despite the fact that initially the workers usually object strongly to the introduction of communal feeding, employers who have per¬ severed are impressed with the benefits, both in economy in foodstuffs and increased output in work. It is unfortunate that the African does not set a proper value on good food; he will often prefer to accept Shs. 15/- in cash in lieu of a ration which he could not buy for less than Shs. 25/- to Shs. 30/-. Consequently, there is little demand from the employee for the improvement of rations, and it is only a comparatively few enlightened employers who appre¬ ciate the importance of proper feeding. It is to be hoped that the present shortage of labour will direct the attention of employers more towards the efficiency of the individual labourer, who must be in good physical shape to be capable of hard work. X.—INTERNATIONAL AND PORT HEALTH 115. During 1951 Tanganyika was recognized as falling within the endemic zone of yellow fever in Africa. This permitted the relaxation of health restric¬ tions applied to travellers arriving from the endemic zone. 116. An agreement was also reached with the Governments of the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi whereby frontier health formalities were simplified, and the movement of people between these countries was thereby facilitated. Control now rests on the prompt notification by the respective Governments of the occurrence of any of the “Convention” diseases, or any other disease of inter-territorial importance. At a time when restrictions on the free movement of travellers across frontiers seem to increase each year, it is gratifying to record measures taken with the object of making inter-territorial movement easier. 117. Another innovation was the setting up of a separate port health organi¬ zation in Dar es Salaam where previously this work had been undertaken by the Municipal Medical Officer of Health. A full time medical officer and two health inspectors were posted for this work. The volume of movement through the port and airport of Dar es Salaam continues to increase, and with the completion of the deep water berths (which will not be for another two or three years) a much stricter control on the sanitation and hygiene of the port area will be required. 118. At the other ports and sanitary aerodromes there was little change in the system of control during the year. At Tabora airport, dwellings within the peripheral area were evacuated, and routine mosquito control measures were revised and improved. The trapping and examination of rats continued at the principal seaports and by courtesy of the East African Medical Survey Laboratory, routine examination of trapped rats was extended to the lake port of Mwanza. All specimens examined were negative for plague. 3°.