For debate: Origins of Frustration and Success in Efforts to Combat Malnutrition in Preschool Children

Relieving and preventing health related stresses due to nutritional and infectious diseases among the children of the worlds poor is a problem which is not easily solved. The importance of attitude on the part of medical personnel who elect to work in health care in the Third World is explored. Cultural differences between the personnel of the World Health Organization (WHO) seems to be a part of the problem in health care. The list of problems that seemingly have been overlooked include the intensity of poverty outside the U.S. the overestimation of the ignorance of the Third World peasant differentiation between urban and rural poor respect for the values of other cultures acknowledgement of the specificity of peasants desire for improvement as well as a distrust of the organizational and institutional means used in the U.S. for social improvement. Methods for success in developing and implementing health care programs in the Third World include keeping programs simple having clear short-term goals and providing solutions to problems tailored precisely to individuals.