Appropriate teaching aids.

When health workers from a developing country visit a national or international "centre of excellence," they may feel frustrated rather than helped. They realise that they have no access to high technology books, journals, films, and slides, or to the new ideas on how to use them. This discovery may prompt doubts about their ability to do their work in the absence of such props. Some are tempted to abandon their posts altogether and look for a solution in academic activity. This happens so often that there is a steady drain of skilled people from the health service periphery to the centre-regionally, nationally, and internationally. This flow needs to be reversed, and those who work at the centres should share their knowledge and resources with those who work in the periphery. Relevant, practical, up to date and inexpensive books and other teaching materials need to reach district training schools and community health workers. In addition, it is essential to ensure that people know how to use them.