| Summary: | The study to develop guidelines for national health planning in developing countries came about as part of another research effort dealing with health facilities. The purpose of the study was to develop a practical set of guidelines which would foster the integration of such planning with general economic and social planning and promote the organization of regional health care systems. Study criteria were established which stipulated that the guidelines be appropriately balanced between generality and specificity; be flexible to adapt to a wide range of countries and users; be practical, realistic, and informal; be documented to a large extent graphically; and be developed within the time and financial restraints of the parent project. In the course of information gathering, a statistical method was found which ranked countries in an ordered sequence of human resource development, closely approximating rankings by other means. Using this technique it was possible to group countries into four levels of development and to identify and project patterns of national development, health problems, and health resources for each level. The next phase of the study dealt with analyzing the concept of regional health care delivery as a potential implementation device for planning strategies. The strategies were based on conditions at succeeding levels of national development. Documentation in graphic and verbal form followed. The illustrated guidelines were then presented to the author's graduate committee to be incorporated into the text of the final report of the larger project later. The guidelines propose a comprehensive approach to health planning at the national level which recognizes the interdependence of health and other developmental factors and promotes the integration of planning efforts for those related parameters. An index of human resource development is suggested as a means of generating interrelated profiles of the national picture and forecasting trends. Finally, at the national level the guidelines recommend an analysis of various factors throughout the country to determine broad interaction patterns on which to base regional health boundaries. At the regional level, the guidelines suggest the simultaneous beginning of initial analyses with which to mold immediate programs, the construction of a data collection system, and detailed studies to develop long-term regional programs. It is proposed that the regional health care delivery system be developed incrementally in patterns which parallel changing health needs, demands, and resources. The guidelines suggest that this can most readily be accomplished in most countries by emphasizing at first preventive health services over curative, which is to say the needs of the great majority over the few. The balance between preventive and curative services can be adjusted as disease patterns change and more health resources become available as part of overall national development.
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