Contrasting The Morbidity Pattern In An African Practice With That In A European General Practice In Salisbury

Abstract

In Rhodesia, general practice among Europeans is fairly typical of practice in developed countries, and an analysis of morbidity statistics is fairly easy. In contrast, general practice among the African people in Rhodesia is more typical of developing countries, and with heavier work loads and fewer diagnostic facilities the morbidity picture is blurred. Yet the contrasting patterns in a multiracial society are of great importance epi- demiologically and administratively. This is especially so in a developing country such as Rhodesia, which is producing its first medical graduates. For these reasons no apology is made for presenting, as a pilot survey, the contrasting morbidity patterns in two general practices in Salisbury, Rhodesia, even though morbidity statistics, at best unreliable, are particularly unreliable in the case of the African practice.