Distance learning for primary health care.

The United Nations' stated objective is to bring primary health care to all by the year 2000. To reach this goal, the health profession will have to be involved in a greater change than has ever taken place since the introduction of scientific medicine. Important advances in educational methods offering many advantages for developing countries have taken place. The most valuable may be "distance learning". A small group led by an educationist would be involved in preparing distance learning material appropriate for health teams offering primary care in villages and slums. As a result of this training, the teams would be better prepared to tackle the major health problems of the communities they serve. In children, these problems are malnutrition, diarrhea and respiratory disease, which together account for half the number of childhood deaths.