ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace realization that the so-called developing countries suffer a double disadvantage in the field of health. Not only do they have a greater mortality and morbidity but their medical care services are more inadequate. In this paper we shall seek to define their problems more precisely in economic and medical terms and to suggest an analysis in sociological terms which aims to answer the question - why are the obvious solutions not applied even when they are perceived? Health in non-industrial countries (and perhaps elsewhere) is not, we shall argue, to be seen in medical and economic terms alone; all the traditional concerns of sociology such as role, class, age, sex, stage in life-cycle, conflict, and reference group are also involved. In order to advance this argument we shall combine the distilled wisdom of King (1966, 1971, 1972), Gish (1971a, 1971b), the Intermediate Technology Development Group (1971), and others, with our own experience in Zambia, as researchers, medical education administrators, and teachers of preventive medicine and medical sociology.
