| Abstract: | In India the measures taken by the Community Health Services to eradicate diseases have been largely responsible for the population growth, and the only acceptable way of controlling this population growth is by conception control. The contraceptive methods must be simple, highly acceptable, cheap, preferably nonrepetitive, and reliable. The prerequisite for acceptance of family planning is the sense of security that the children born will live a good life span. Thus, any program designed to control the rate of population growth must include child and maternal health services. Such services were developed in the beginning of the 20th century to provide a standard of prenatal, natal and postnatal care, but the available services do not satisfactorily meet the needs. The Community Health Service has to deal with the following identified health problems in the community if a national population policy is to succeed: 1) care of pregnant women during pregnancy, delivery, and following delivery; 2) motivating and sustaining the motivated couple in contraceptive practice; 3) care of the infant; 4) care of the toddler until 5 years; 5) care of the school age child; 6) care of adolescents; 7) care of tuberculosis and leprosy cases; and, 8) environmental factors. The presence of these problems in the community depend among other factors on the cultural habits, religious beliefs, family traditions, social customs, economic status, and educational level of the population in the community. The present trend is to provide an entire population with at least minimal services; these include elementary health care, health education, and identification of high risk groups who need more than minimal attention. To provide these services a wide network of auxiliaries work closely with professional medical staff as well as with community leaders. It is most important to develop an organizational pattern which considers the available resources and the additional resources that are needed. |
