[Scientific work in the training of health personnel].

This document makes a series of statements about the limitations to scientific and technological development in Latin America and about recent trends in efforts to overcome them. The writer reviews the situation regarding health research in the Region and lists the respective shortcomings: "it is meager and disjointed, does not spring from the health problems of Latin American countries, and--like the training of health manpower, and of physicians in particular--is seen as entirely divorced from social reality, responding to outside influences that are sometimes entirely extraneous to the countries' own needs." She emphasizes that, while many health manpower training centers are striving to make their instruction more relevant to real life in their countries, no attempt is made to develop a scientific understanding of the health problems to which the educational process must be geared. She analyzes the role of research in student training and regards it as important to keep in mind that both research and instruction must aim for the same goal: development of science and technology in the service of the community. In closing, she asserts that the Latin American university must be committed to science in the service of society, which means that it must pass tha knowledge on to the population and join with it in the solution of its problems.