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Show 2 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS is exceedingly difficult to induce the parents to abandon their er-roneous beliefs and customs fostered b the native medicine men, and turn to a hygienic way of living. Pui lic hygiene in organized com-munities may be enforced, but personal hygiene must he taught,, and the teaching process among Indians is slow; for general sanitary improvement and the observance of the laws of hygiene are de-pendent upon the intelligence of the community, as expressed through cooperative effort for the common good, and upon the state of advancement of the people. TUBER~SIS.-Thereis more infection of tuberculosis among all children than is generally known, Indian children being no excep-tion to the rule, but there are definite indications that tuberculosis is not so prevalent nor so fatal among Indians as formerly. The Indians are developing eater resistance and a higher degree of relative immunity; besi CesF, better provisions obtain for the hos-pitalization and isolation of patients. TRACHOMA. -Ei~n ~th~e~ y ear all Indian Service physicians were urged to take more aggressive measures against trachoma, and not wait for the coming of the special physician. Directions were issued to place all trachomatous pupils in school in order that they might receive treatment. Trachoma surveys were made during the year in Minnesota, Wisconsin, California, Arizona, and New Mexico, and thousands of cases received operative or other treatment. As a re-sult of the surveys in Arizona and New Mexico, the southwestern trachoma campaign was organized to begin operation July 1, 1924. This campaign will cover the States of Arizona and New Mexico, and a portion of Utah, and, in its' organization, scope, and purpose, it is probably the most extensive health effort ever undertaken by the Indian medical service. The Indian appropriation act carried an extra allowance of $130,000 for health work during the fiscal year 1925. Of this amount $40,000 vas allocated for the establishment of a hospital at Shawnee, , Okla., utilizing the abandoned plant of the former boarding school, and the remainder was set apart for the improvement of health con-ditions among Indians, particularly with respect to trachoma and tuberculosis. The Navajo Reservation, which has the largest population of any reservation of the United States, has been selected as the first battle ground in an aggressive campaign against trachoma, the selection having been deeided upon not only because of its large population of Navajos but because it is believed that the superintendent, who has been with these Indians for more than 20 years, will be able to give a special impetus to the work. The trachoma campaign will rely altogether upon persuasion and demonstration to attain its pur-poses. The Navajos are a ~rimitive people, and if success can be attained by these methods with them it will show that the policy is applicable among all Indians. There is no law under which Indians can be compelled to submit to treatment for trachoma, nor is it deemed advisable to resort to drastic measures in this particular. When a few are cured, the news will be broadcasted in their own way throughout all the Navajo country; and when a Hopl, Zuni, or a Pueblo is cured, he will pass the glad tidings along to his tribesmen as effectively as could be done by any radio broadcasting station in the world. |