Introduction

Soon after the Royal Society’s Discussion Meeting on Technologies for Rural Health in December 1976 (published under the same title in Proc. R. Soc. Lond . B 199, 1-187 (1977)), it was suggested that a follow-up meeting would be valuable to deal with subjects omitted from the previous meeting for lack of time, and to review progress made towards the provision of health care to the underprivileged people living in rural areas around the world. We wondered at first whether there would be enough change and enough new material to justify another meeting. In the event, we found that things had undoubtedly changed, although not quite in the ways that had been expected. In the first place, international support has now been promised towards meeting many of the needs that were discussed. The W. H. O. /UNICEF joint meeting on Primary Health Care, held at Alma Ata in 1978, concentrated on ways to en­courage good health in rural areas. The call for ‘Health for all by the year 2000’ has gone round the world. The summer of 1979 brought the U. N. conference on Science and Technology for Development. The ‘Water Decade’ is almost upon us, and W. H. O. has increased its activity in providing laboratory and radiological services, training for different levels of auxiliary health care personnel, and looking at ways to ensure adequate supplies of suitable drugs and the many other things needed to improve the health of rural populations.