2
TRIENNIAL REPORT ON VACCINATION IN BURMA FOR THE YEARS 1905-06 TO 1907-08.
Statement I.
3. Primary Vaccination.—The total number of primary operations was
1,117,364, an increase of 22,389. The percentage of success was 91.05. It is a
distinct improvement on that obtained in the previous triennium (86.35).
Statement I.
4. Re-vaccination.—One hundred and fifty-two thousand five hundred and
eighty-nine operations were performed against 71,610 of the previous triennium,
an increase of 80,979. The percentage of success was 54.74 against 49.80 in the
earlier period.
Statement I.
5. Average work of each Vaccinator.— The average number of operations
performed by each vaccinator was 1,721, a decrease of 20 on the last triennium.
This gives an average of 143.42 per mensem for each vaccinator, which is very
far below even reasonable demands. Colonel King was of opinion that each
vaccinator should ordinarily perform 300 operations in a month. Efforts will be
made to approach this ideal.
It has, however, been found extremely difficult in Burma to obtain vaccinators
for the emoluments offered, who will take an interest in their work and apply
themselves to overcoming the strong prejudices entertained by the people to the
operation.
Statement I.
Infantile protection during the triennium in Lower Burma.
Year.
1905 ...
1906 ...
1907 ...
Total ...
Registered
births during
the calendar
year.
191,226
180,026
181,831
553,085
Registered deaths
under one year
daring calendar
year.
37,595
38,408
83,258
109,261
Number of child-
ren available for
vaccination.
153,631
111,617
118,576
413,824
Infants success-
fully vaccinated
during the year
ending 31st
March.
41,979
39,216
35,361
116,586
Percentage of
available in-
fants protect-
ed.
27.32
27.71
23.80
26.27
6. Successful Vaccination according to ages.—Two hundred and forty-five
thousand nine
hundred and
thirty-nine infants
under one year
of age were suc-
cessfully vaccin-
ated, an increase
of 14,567 on the
previous record;
534,128 children
successfully
vaccinated were between one and six years. The total number of successful
operations performed on children below six years was 780,067. The total increase
is 31,646 over the previous triennium. At the Census of 1901 the population
between 0 and 5 years was stated to be 1,448,174 and the infants up to one
year of age totalled 248,380. The highest number of infants vaccinated in one
year during the period under review was 87,562 in 1905-06. The average for the
three years is 81,980. The births recorded for about nine-tenths of the population
total 278,533 (which is probably considerably below the actual), of whom about
one-fifth died within the year. It is thus evident that about one-third of available
infants are at present vaccinated before they attain 12 months of age. Since
vaccination is performed subject to the approval of parents and the Burmans are
averse to allowing their children to be operated on before they have reached two
years of age, or even more, improvement in these particulars will depend very much
upon the tact and personal influence of the vaccinator, and the circumstances
afford an argument for employing a better stamp of men than the department
attracts at present. The figures for children available for vaccination, and the
number protected during the triennium, will be found in the marginal statement
(information is only available for Lower Burma).
Statement I.
7. Protection to population.—The proportion per mille of population success-
fully vaccinated during the triennium was 33.16 compared with 30.38 for the
preceding three years. The average ratio per thousand of the population protected
by vaccination during the quinquennial period preceding each of the three years
under review was 32.01.
Appendix A gives the ratio for the number of persons per ten thousand of the
population successfully vaccinated during the five years preceding the last year of
the triennium ending with 1907-08, and the ratio of deaths from small-pox during the
same period. The ratio of protection is lower than in the previous quinquennium, and
that of mortality from small-pox is also rather less. The improvement in the
mortality from small-pox, which had been almost continuous since 1899, was
disturbed by the severe epidemics of the disease in 1905 and 1906. The tendency