2
RESOLUTION ON THE TRIENNIAL REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BURMA FOR THE YEARS 1896-97—1898-99.
Statistics.
3. The following table gives the more important statistics for the past three
years and affords a comparison between this period
and the previous triennium:—
Average number of vaccinators employed ...
Average number of persons vaccinated by each
vaccinator.
Percentage of successful cases.
Primary ... ... ... ...
Re-vaccination
...
...
...
...
Aggregate number of successful cases.
Primary
...
...
...
...
Re-vaccination ... ... ... ...
Proportion of successful cases per mille of popu-
lation.
LOWER BURMA (INCLUDES THAYETMYO).
Average
for
1893—96
93
2,301
90.80
46.51
152,760
19,018
36.87
1896-97.
110
2,622
92.01
58.79
245,805
12,484
55.44
1897-98.
114
2,581
94.71
62.79
262,668
10,636
58.67
1898-99.
120
2,711
95.73
60.99
290,837
13,125
65.24
Average
for
1896—99
115
2,638
94.14
60.85
266,436
12,081
59.76
UPPER BURMA.
Average
for
1893—96
49
2,227
89.31
52.32
95,707
1,405
37.91
1896-97.
51
2,480
93.34
64.64
115,297
1,903
33.60
1897-98.
53
2,406
94.23
55.07
115,890
3,540
33.95
1898-99.
57
2,473
92.45
54.14
124,999
3,106
36.72
Average
for
1896—99
54
2,453
93.53
58.28
118,728
3,516
34.75
It will be seen from this table that in both Lower Burma and Upper Burma
the average number of vaccinations performed by each operator has increased,
in Lower Burma by 337 and in Upper Burma by 226, while the percentage of
successful cases of both classes shows a marked improvement. A still more satis-
factory feature of the report is the great increase in the aggregate number of
successful primary vaccinations, which have risen in Lower Burma from an aver-
age of 152,760 during the preceding three years to an average of 266,436 during
the period under review. In Upper Burma the rise in the average aggregate has
been from 95,707 to 118,728.
Degree of protection afforded by
vaccination.
4. The proportion of successful cases to the population per mille has also
risen. In calculating the ratio, however, the statistics
of population have necessarily been taken from the
census of 1891, no allowance being made for the
growth of population since that time.
It will be seen from the two diagrams embodied in the Superintendent-
General's report that, except in Sandoway, Rangoon, and Tavoy in Lower Bur-
ma, and Shwebo in Upper Burma, the number of persons protected during the
past seven years is considerably less than half of the total population. The degree
of protection afforded to the infant population in municipal towns and in the
districts is shown in separate tables. Owing apparently to the fact that persons
from the district are vaccinated and registered in the towns the figures relating to
municipalities give absurd results. The table as it stands is valueless and need
scarcely have found a place in the report.
The table printed in paragraph 13 of the report is of more interest, but the
figures are to a certain extent untrustworthy for the reasons given above. They
show, however, that in the majority of districts infant vaccination does not nearly
keep pace with the birth-rate, and that the number of infants protected is not even
one-half of the number who survive their first year. In certain delta districts,
notably Mergui, Bassein, and Myaungmya, the ratio of unprotected infants is over
80 per cent. of the total number. No explanation has been offered of these figures,
which are so unsatisfactory as to justify the assumption that the Civil Surgeons of
these districts take too little personal interest in this subject. Two headmen in the
Myaungmya district have been especially commended for their efforts to popu-