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An extension of health education
PUBLIC H E A L T H the domiciliary nursing services and the public assistance department on the other. The liaison work is in addition to its primary statistical and financial functions. The report considers the possible weaknesses of Public Assistance Medical Services worked through a panel of practitioners, and states that in respect of certification of fitness it is the considered opinion of the Public Assistance Department that the members of the " open-choice " panel discharge this duty even more conscientiously than did their predecessors, the salaried part-time district medical officers. The view expressed in the previous report that the danger of excessive recommendations for medical extras had been exaggerated has been substantiated during the past year. Dr. Charles points out that the Domiciliary Medical Scheme provides an opportunity for studying sickness and invalidity amongst one large section of the population including males and females of all ages. The importance of such data is only now beginning to be understood, and with proper statistical methods it should be possible to correlate the effect of bad housing conditions, low income levels, etc., upon the health of the public assistance commumty. The conclusion justified by the report is that no other scheme of domiciliary medical service has ever achieved so large a measure of acceptance and popularity amongst those members of the community whom it is intended to serve.
An Extension of Health Education The Ninth Annual Report of the Central Council for Health Education, and the first since its incorporation, shows a continued increase both in the services which it provides or organises and in the use made of them by local authorities and insurance committees. The financial support accorded to the Central Council by local authorities was likewise increased but not, we regret, in proportion to the Council's growing responsibilities. A special appeal is being made this year to remedy this lag between achievement and financial resources. Medical officers of health will recollect that the Central Council is a child of the Society and will, we hope, do their utmost to ensure that their authorities realise the usefulness of the C.C.H.E. and give it tangible support. The Chairman of the Central Council, Dr. James Fenton of Kensington, has already outlined the year's work in his speech to the Health Education Conference reported in the December issue of PUBLIC HEALTH,and the only comments called for are on points of particular interest. First, the Central Council is now providing a really first-class Health Week Exhibition and 114
JANUARY Campaign for local authorities who desire to employ this form of propaganda. Secondly, the supply of excellent posters for use on the former Empire Marketing Board frames is now being supplemented by an offer (set out in an advertisement page of this issue) to provide frames free of charge to authorities which will purchase monthly poster sets for two years. Third, a Health Education Year Book giving full information of the materials which can be supplied by the Central Council and its affiliated bodies, is shortly to be issued to local authorities and others. And last, the Central Council has had under consideration for some months the preparation of a National Health Campaign, with the particular object of gaining a better backing from the general public for the health services provided by local authorities. There are some medical officers of health who have never been convinced of the usefulness of health publicity and who have adduced sound arguments to show that the education of the public is best effected by the day-to-day work of sanitary inspectors and health visitors. This view is a reasonable one but we venture to think shows a limited understanding of the possibilities of a more direct appeal for active interest. The figures quoted by Dr. Fenton were conclusive evidence that certain public health services are n o t being used to anything like capacity. Public utility companies, the B.B.C., the Post Office, the Ministry of Health itself, have seen t h a t well directed publicity, it may be in the form of a Public Relations Officer, is an indispensable part of the services which they provide, in that it secures the co-operation of the public which is being served. The public health services, though they are organised in a unitary form, are just as much a public service as any of those mentioned above, and we submit that the Central Council for Health Education is in the position to be the " Public Relations Officer " for the public health services. But, in the first place, the support of the local authorities who provide these services is essential. We trust that the support will be forthcoming, especially in view of the opportunity for progress afforded by the present governmental and general interest in national fitness.
Iodine and Endemic Goitre Endocrinology has made dramatic progress during the past decade, advances that are fascinating yet almost bewildering to any but the scientific mind of the research worker. And, whatever its r61e in the endocrine orchestra, the thyroid gland plays a sufficiently important part to make any contribution welcome which helps to elucidate its physiological or pathological states. It is now some time ago since the relationship
An Extension of Health Education The Ninth Annual Report of the Central Council for Health Education, and the first since its incorporation, shows a continued increase both in the services which it provides or organises and in the use made of them by local authorities and insurance committees. The financial support accorded to the Central Council by local authorities was likewise increased but not, we regret, in proportion to the Council's growing responsibilities. A special appeal is being made this year to remedy this lag between achievement and financial resources. Medical officers of health will recollect that the Central Council is a child of the Society and will, we hope, do their utmost to ensure that their authorities realise the usefulness of the C.C.H.E. and give it tangible support. The Chairman of the Central Council, Dr. James Fenton of Kensington, has already outlined the year's work in his speech to the Health Education Conference reported in the December issue of PUBLIC HEALTH,and the only comments called for are on points of particular interest. First, the Central Council is now providing a really first-class Health Week Exhibition and 114
JANUARY Campaign for local authorities who desire to employ this form of propaganda. Secondly, the supply of excellent posters for use on the former Empire Marketing Board frames is now being supplemented by an offer (set out in an advertisement page of this issue) to provide frames free of charge to authorities which will purchase monthly poster sets for two years. Third, a Health Education Year Book giving full information of the materials which can be supplied by the Central Council and its affiliated bodies, is shortly to be issued to local authorities and others. And last, the Central Council has had under consideration for some months the preparation of a National Health Campaign, with the particular object of gaining a better backing from the general public for the health services provided by local authorities. There are some medical officers of health who have never been convinced of the usefulness of health publicity and who have adduced sound arguments to show that the education of the public is best effected by the day-to-day work of sanitary inspectors and health visitors. This view is a reasonable one but we venture to think shows a limited understanding of the possibilities of a more direct appeal for active interest. The figures quoted by Dr. Fenton were conclusive evidence that certain public health services are n o t being used to anything like capacity. Public utility companies, the B.B.C., the Post Office, the Ministry of Health itself, have seen t h a t well directed publicity, it may be in the form of a Public Relations Officer, is an indispensable part of the services which they provide, in that it secures the co-operation of the public which is being served. The public health services, though they are organised in a unitary form, are just as much a public service as any of those mentioned above, and we submit that the Central Council for Health Education is in the position to be the " Public Relations Officer " for the public health services. But, in the first place, the support of the local authorities who provide these services is essential. We trust that the support will be forthcoming, especially in view of the opportunity for progress afforded by the present governmental and general interest in national fitness.
Iodine and Endemic Goitre Endocrinology has made dramatic progress during the past decade, advances that are fascinating yet almost bewildering to any but the scientific mind of the research worker. And, whatever its r61e in the endocrine orchestra, the thyroid gland plays a sufficiently important part to make any contribution welcome which helps to elucidate its physiological or pathological states. It is now some time ago since the relationship