Primary health care in developing countries: The case of Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Tanzania

The country health programmes reviewed in this paper are aimed at meeting the World Health Organization's (WHO) target of providing basic health services for all by the year 2000. In accordance with the objective of the programme, each of the country health programme is expected to focus on the mechanisms for expanding health facilities and strenthening the health planning machinery in order to achieve an equitable distribution of health facilities in the foreseeable future as part of social development and in the spirit of social justice. Although there are marked differences in the approach to the realization of the objectives of the various country programmes revied in this paper, the primary aim is to bridge the widening gap between the health ‘haves’ and the health ‘have-nots’ in the respective countries. A substantial part of the resources of these countries are now being set aside for the implementation of the health care programmes so as to meet the health aspirations of their people. It is our belief that the health programmes of these countries are laudable and if properly implemented they will meet the health needs of the people of the various countries. A continuous evaluation of the programmes will enable each country to assess the sucesses and failure of the schemes and the organizational bottlenecks that may make the realization of stated objectives a well nigh impossible task.