[Health indicators and public health planning]

Health indicators are considered to be fundamental to the public health planning process. To a large extent, programs and services relevancy depends on indicators used for planning. Based upon a review of the literature, criteria for judging the acceptability of available indicators are presented and described. The principal health indicators developed for planning health programmes and services are then analysed in terms of these criteria. The dimensions of health measured by the various indicators are noted together with the relevancy and limits of each group of indicators analysed.