SUSTAINING HEALTH-SERVICE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE THIRD-WORLD

An increasing number of 'third world' health development projects are proving to be unsustainable once foreign aid has been withdrawn. It is argued that this is partly due to the fact that such projects usually deliver health care free of charge rather than allowing communities t o incorporate the costs of health care into their local economies. The re should be more emphasis on health development projects paying for t hemselves from the outset. Such projects might also incorporate the ex tant community based infra-structure of traditional medicine through d irect collaboration with its practitioners.