Syncrisis, the dynamics of health : 8. Ethiopia

Nontheless the Ethiopian government has been implementing a health program which first will develop a number of instruments to improve health and then intergrate them into a single, coherent health agency. A then national service to combat malaria and other prevalent communicable diseases is probably the most cost-effective action available to the Ethiopian. Lack of adequate environmental sanitation and frequent malnutrition represent the most important areas in which new program initiatives would exert the greatest impact on Ethiopia"s health status. The development of teams of health officers, sanitarians, community nurses is a key element in the provinicial health system. Encouraging as these programs are, they are growing only very slowly, and their administration and management are particularly weak. And although these programs are important, priority might well be given to more active programs to reduce population growth, to extend health services to the rural areas and to improve environmental sanitation and nutrition.