6. Future
It is envisaged that the WONCA Policy on Rural Practice and
Rural Health will provide national, professional, and government bodies with a
useful template for the development of national initiatives in rural health. Many
of the strategies have been tested while a number await testing. Some may not
suit the needs of individual countries but most will find that the multifactorial
approach suggested in these recommendations will be better that a single strategy
or few “quick fixes”.
The WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice strongly
encourages the documentation of the achievements of individual strategies to
improve rural health and rural health services.
The ultimate test will be an improvement in the health
status of rural people.