Public Health in British India during 1934

Abstract

THE annual report of the Public Health Commissioner with the Government of India (vol. 1), recently issued, surveys the vital statistics, public health and public health services of British India for the year 1934 (Government of India Press, New Delhi, 1936. Rs. 6 As. 2, or 10s.). The mid-year population is estimated to be, 275,753,570, the births were 9,288,897, a rate per 1,000 of 34, and the deaths numbered 6,856,244, a rate per 1,000 of 25. The infant mortality per 1,000 live births was 187. Of the causes of death, malaria heads the list with 1,319,026 deaths, and this figure does not include the mortality caused indirectly by malaria. Deaths from respiratory diseases numbered 483,018, those from dysentery and diarrhoea 285,110 and from cholera 199,708. Smallpox, with 83,928 deaths, caused a greater mortality than plague, with 80,131 deaths. At the Research Institute, Kasauli, a number of cases of snake-bite have been treated with anti-venomous serum with a high percentage of recoveries -25 out of 29 cases of cobra bite, and 12 out of 13 cases of bite by Russell's viper. Lieut.-Colonel Jolly, the Commissioner, believes that the intensive public health propaganda carried out during the last ten or twelve years is beginning to bear fruit, and that interest is increasing hi such matters as rural reconstruction, nutrition, child welfare and the prevention of epidemics.