RESOLUTION ON THE TRIENNIAL REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BURMA FOR THE YEARS 1896-97-1898-1898-99. 3
larize vaccination within their jurisdictions. It is to be hoped that their example
will be followed in other parts of these districts.
Comparative results by districts.
5. The districts of Henzada and Prome employed the largest number of vacci-
nators during the period under review. In Henzada,
excluding the municipal town, the total number of
persons vaccinated per annum rose from an average of 7,381 in the previous
triennium to an average of 22,131 in the last three years. The actual number vacci-
nated during 1898-99 was 29,291. In Thayetmyo the yearly average has increased
from 6,805 to 15,568, in Sandoway from 11,153 to 19,506 in Thôngwa from 6,870
to 13,434, and in Pegu from 5,476 to 11,527. In Henzada and Thôngwa this
large increase has been accompanied by a marked improvement in the ratio of
successful primary cases.
In Lower Burma the average number of operations performed by each vac-
cinator was highest in Sandoway district (8,572), the second place being taken
by Amherst (4,956). The success of the Sandoway vaccinators is said to be due
to the favourable attitude of the people towards vaccination. An outbreak of
small-pox in the Central township was followed by wholesale vaccination of the
inhabitants of the rural tracts. The district officials too are reported to take great
interest in the work. His Honour is, however, inclined to distrust the figures for
this district. In the tables printed in paragraphs 12 and 13 of the report the per-
centage of successful vaccinations on children under one year of age is shown as
134.15 in the municipal town and 113.93 in the district outside the town. Though,
as has been shown above, the former figure may be capable of explanation, the
latter can scarcely be correct, except on the hypothesis that a very large number
of births escape registration. The figures should be tested by a comparison of the
vaccinators' returns with the birth registers. The amount of work done by each
vaccinator was lowest in the Arakan Hill Tracts (1,331), Akyab (1,428), and
Myaungmya (1,528). The backwardness of vaccination in the two latter districts
has been the subject of unfavourable comment in each annual report. The Lieute-
nant-Governor trusts that the Deputy Superintendents will endeavour to remove
this stigma from their districts. In Upper Burma the outturn of work was highest
in Shwebo (4,682), where, however, it has steadily decreased during the period
under review, and lowest in Myitkyina (863) and in the Shan States.
The average percentage of successful primary operations outside municipal
towns was highest, in Lower Burma, in Bassein (98.05), and lowest in Hanthawaddy
(87.85). In Upper Burma it was highest in Minbu (97.5), and lowest in the
Northern Shan States (80.76) and Myitkyina (81.1).
Dispensary vaccination.
6. As in the preceding triennium, so in that under review, there has been a
steady increase in the number of dispensary vacci-
nations, which in 1895-96 totalled 7,195 and in
1898-99 14,349. In the latter year, however, there was an abnormal rise in the
numbers who submitted themselves to vaccination, due no doubt to the small-pox
scare which prevailed during the last few months of that period.
Vaccination in the Shan States.
7. The statistics for the Southern Shan States reveal a moderate degree of
progress. The total number of vaccinations per-
formed has risen from an average of 2,913 in the
preceding period to 3,561 during the past three years, and the average of opera-
tions performed by each vaccinator has increased from 1,456 to 1,780 in 1898-99.