medicine and public health in offering programs in 

 health services management. We suggest that the 

 resulting developments in curricula be shared with 

 developing countries, and that support for U.S. 

 training of those who wish to teach health management 

 in developing countries be provided. However, due to 

 the idiosyncracies and culture-specific nature of the 

 management of social services, much of the training 

 envisaged must be adapted to local settings and 

 provided in developing countries themselves. Thus U.S. 

 universities and management groups and concerned 

 institutions in developing countries might work 

 together to develop centers in those countries for 

 training population, health, and nutrition system 

 planners and managers. 



Support Services . A number of private U.S. firms 

 with considerable experience in the systems approach 

 generally and with specific management support systems 

 have begun to apply their expertise to the health 

 sector. Federal assistance is already being used to 

 some extent to channel this expertise toward the needs 

 of developing countries. We suggest that this effort 

 be encouraged, taking care that conditions unique to 

 developing countries are recognized. For example, 

 certain recent developments in communications 

 technology, selectively transferred, might usefully be 

 applied in developing countries. The United States has 

 much to offer in the way of hardware (e.g., vehicles 

 and equipment) , although such assistance must be 

 provided flexibly to account for local conditions. 

 Even more important, however, is the transfer of 

 appropriate software (e.g. , training for maintenance 

 capability) . 



Effective Data Collection, Communication, and 

 Feedback . Innovative methods of collecting data and 

 efficient methods of analysis and feedback to provide 

 for minimal information needs are major planning and 

 management concerns in both the United States and 

 developing countries. In contrast to vital statistics 

 and health statistics, however, the field of health 

 management statistics remains poorly developed, apart 

 from some activities involving American hospital 

 management. Developing countries might find it useful 

 to have statistical information systems for basic 

 population, health, and nutrition services which would 

 improve decision processes and afford at least minimal 

 comparability among regions and among countries. We 

 believe that private U.S. management groups, 

 professional hospital associations, universities, and 

 population/family planning organizations could assist 

 in developing such systems. 



The hardware and software available for analysis 

 are developing rapidly. For example, large-capacity 



103 



