Health planning in Africa : state of the art analysis

This literature review surveys the state of the art of health planning in Africa, summarizing theoretical and practical developments in the field and identifying gaps between and within planning theory and practice. An initial section defines Africa"s health problems and the role of health planning in alleviating them. Succeeding sections discuss various development policies and health priorities that have been prescribed to meet Africa"s health development needs (the health infrastructure, ecological, and human resource approaches), and describe corresponding techniques used in the planning process. A critical review of the organizational development of health planning in African Ministries of Health yields to a final section outlining a health planning framework in light of previously identified health needs and planning deficiencies. Decentralized planning and the use of community committees are stressed. Appended is an 11-page bibliography (1963-81).