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Norman W. Hoover, MD

JAMA. 1970;214(9):1698-1699.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In trying to solve complex mathematical equations, one looks for common denominators. The same approach needs to be applied to social issues. The search for unique solutions for singular problems is endlessly futile, because there are just too many problems.

For three centuries, the instruments and methods of western technology have been carried to the rest of the world. As inverse imbalances of wealth and population have increased, both in part as the result of improved technology, that technology has become less generally applicable.

The random exportation of "western" solutions has been repudiated by experience. Recognition of that fact was slow in coming and has brought a general counterreaction, that economic, cultural, and ecologic barriers preclude application of lessons gained from experience in one society to the circumstances of another. It is argued that systems must be designed specifically to meet each country's particular need. Between the extremes of capricious . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Director AMA Department of International Medicine Chicago

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