An aspect of community medicine. The medical care implications of manpower and other resources, with the rural Black population as an example.

The problems and needs of the rural Black communities are very real--although circumstances and diseases among Blacks differ to an extent from those encountered in sophisticated, developed urban areas, they still require advice, education and treatment appropriate to their problems. Because the problems confronting the health services are so great and the costs and benefits involved so difficult to assess, this paper is concerned with the problems of the rural Blacks and the role of existing medical care in their alleviation, as well as the problems faced by health planners, which in turn are directly or indirectly related especially to the Black medical personnel in the field. Any improvements in health services can be achieved only if our planning is based on objective investigation of experience, periodic reconsideration and refinement of methods and training that are practical, adaptable and directly related to the health priorities of the area concerned. Recognition and understanding of impeding factors in the delivery of medical care are urgently needed to ensure that wrong planning does not lead to maladministration, which in turn causes misunderstanding, failure of communication and possibly rejection of essential health services.