Planning prosthetic and orthotic programmes to aid developing countries.

At present there is a profusion of agencies and governments which send missions of prosthetics and orthotics experts into developing countries. Included are the U N , the World Rehabil i tat ion Fund , the Wor ld Heal th Organization, the Social and Rehabili tat ion Service of H E W , Public Hea l th Service, certain religious organ­ izations, H O P E ship, and perhaps others. These agencies send experts to developing countries with the best intentions but some­ times without regard to each other 's work. These efforts should avoid duplication, programmes should not overlap, one mission should not be critical of another, and agencies should no t compete for the limited talent available t o m a n the missions.