Health microplanning in the developing countries: a systems approach to appropriate technology

A method of systematically planning the technical details of personal health care in the developing world is described. In contrast to national health plans of the traditional kind--"macroplans"--those for health technology have to be minutely detailed. They have therefore been termed "microplans". (They have also been called health care packages, but this term has other usages). A microplan is defined as an integrated set of components (instructions for technologies, equipment lists, teaching aids, evaluation instruments, etc.) prepared nationally to support a particular health care subsystem. The rationale for a microplan is that the whole is more than the sum of its parts. A microplan is itself a system in two senses. First, the technologies in a given microplan need to be organized so as to support one another. Second, the components in a microplan must themselves be integrated into a system. A microplan can be applied to induce change and so improve the technical quality of existing services. It can also be used to train new workers. More importantly, it ties educational programs to service needs. Since the technology for dealing with disease is so similar all over the developing world, once a "master microplan" for a particular subsystem has been prepared, it can be adapted readily to the needs of individual countries.