Developing Health in the West African Bush

First Sentence

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE - CHAPTER I : In September 1978, the United States Agency for International Development (US-AID), made a commitment to raise funds to a group of four U.S. based health institutions which had the potential for expanding their training and technical assistance in the Developing World, particularly in African countries. The purpose of these grants under Title 122(d) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended was to provide funds...............Meharry Medical College of Nasville was one of the four institutions which received these AID grants, and initially centred its efforts on Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning, and Applied Nutrition Program Activities.

Description

Work falls into two parts. In Part I, problems, responsibilities, and milestones passed in setting up a Dept of Community Health and Primary Health Care in West Africa are described. Focus is on Biopsychosocial Medicine and Community Health Education, including how a HEALTH TEAM performs in the Tropical Rain Forest. SELF HELP and SELF HEALTH are emphasised in training medical students, community health personnel, village health assistants on a basis of COMMUNITY ORIENTED EDUCATION and PROBLEM BASED LEARNING. Part 2 addresses underlying problems of organization and management; economic development in Lesser Developed Countries; reduction of barriers to BIOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, and the role of issues such as Agriculture (Nutrition); Political Will; Contracting for OVERSEAS DEVELOPMENT. This section describes the setting up of a WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION COLLABORATING CENTER FOR PRIMARY HEALTH CARE including COMMUNITY BASED EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF HEALTH PERSONNEL .

Subjects