Reach out for health

Who will till this rice-paddy in the Philippines if the farmer falls sick? Good health is everybody's business. 'The right way and the right time to brush your teeth." A simple message for two children in Indonesia. Beachoutf The greatest obstacle to achieving Health for all, the goal agreed by all of WHO's 166 member states, is poor planning, organi- zation and management, particularly at the local level where the most intensive action is supposed to be. This is why WHO launched the initiative which it calls "Strengthening district health systems." Better health does not just mean going to the doctor for treatment when one is sick. For one thing, millions of people - particularly in the Third World - have no doctor to go to, even if they wanted to. Instead, people need to know how to adopt more healthy lifestyles, and how to make changes in their home and community environments which are effective, feasible and affordable. And they need support to obtain better nutrition, better sanitation, better education and better housing - all this in addition to better health care. So the people who staff health centres, clinics and local hospitals need to recruit positive support from people at all levels in the locality -- and by "district" WHO indicates merely a local area which is manageable in size. And they must encourage coordination between government bodies and private and non-governmental institutions. Primary health care at the district level offers the best possible opportunity for even the remotest of rural communi- ties to reach out for health. A safe, clean water supply, like this pump in Nepal, is a benefit which most communities can afford. or health ... The proble• CDVER.AC-E DF Aspect of the proble11 tackled Notification of food poisoning cases Low percentage of i-.Jnised children IAAUWilATlO~ Low level of ~~&laria detection •~·••••••·,.N 0' MAlAiliA Maternal deaths due to postpartUII hae1110rrhage ft.l!..v......r•v•lS Malaysia's Action Research programme drew up a series of simplified learning cards, of which this is an example, to help in training health managers at the district level to solve the problems they would face. WORLD HEALTH. May 1989 ·! Q) z ~ A busy immunization session in the open air attracted a good response from the young mothers of this Burmese community. A well-kept- and well-advertised- ventilated latrine helps to ensure good health in a Tanzanian village, while (below) a maternal and child health aide keeps a check on the healthy growth of youngsters.