fundamental changes in political, social, and economic 

 systems. Scientific and technological change will 

 produce improvements in human welfare, but far greater 

 advances could follow from a commitment to general 

 social change and basic human rights. A most important 

 barrier to social and economic development is 

 institutional and bureaucratic indifference. 



Evidence from developing countries indicates that 

 where the standard of living of the poorest segments of 

 the population has improved somewhat, health has 

 improved, based on such indices as decreases in infant 

 mortality and crude death rates and increases in life 

 expectancy. Thus eguity issues, specifically income 

 redistribution, and standard of living are of utmost 

 importance in achieving improvements in the fields of 

 population, health, and nutrition. Indeed, without 

 such equity medical science and technology may have 

 limited usefulness. 



In the industrialized nations, health indicators 

 improved substantially even before medical science and 

 technology had much to offer. Thus it should be 

 stressed at the 1979 U.N- Conference that dramatic 

 improvements in the quality of life in developing 

 countries are possible without new technological 

 advances in the health field, but rather through more 

 appropriate and widespread adaptation, transfer, and 

 application of what is already known and available. 



A basic difference between the United States and 

 most developing countries in the manner in which social 

 services are provided must also be kept in mind. In 

 this country, health, nutrition, and family planning 

 services are largely delivered through the private 

 sector, private doctors, private pharmacies, and other 

 private institutions. Through marketing techniques, 

 the private sector often has been more successful in 

 disseminating innovation than has the public sector. 

 On the other hand, much of the population of most 

 developing countries depends on the public sector for 

 these services, although, due to a lack of effective 

 health care facilities and professionally trained 

 personnel, many people also use private pharmacies, 

 drugs from small general stores, and private, 

 indigenous, or traditional health care providers. 

 Since much of the technological and managerial 

 expertise and many of the financial and other resources 

 in the United States are found in the private sector, 

 much of the technology is proprietary in nature. 

 Consequently, if the United States is to make a major 

 contribution to health and socioeconomic development in 

 Africa, Asia, and Latin America, special efforts must 

 be made to enlist the capacities of the private sector. 



This panel also believes that Americans would do 

 well to contemplate changes in their consumption 



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