A model comprehensive health survey in a developing country: the Egyptian Nubian health survey

ABSTRACT

Before the mass evacuation of nearly 45,000 Nubians to a new settlement area in 1963, a comprehensive health survey on a representative sample of 903 persons (2 per cent) was conducted with a view to making a community diagnosis of major health problems for sound planning of their mass transportation as well as obtaining a base line for a follow-up study in the new environment. Individuals were subjected to various clinical, laboratory and immunologic examinations by a team of specialists. Since the survey covered almost every aspect of health, the data obtained have been massive and as envisaged, have proved most useful in the long-term follow-up investigations into the effects of a changing modernized environment on a primitive group. Solutions to many a community problem pertaining to health were also discovered in the course of the survey. The paper describes the philosophy, approach and methods of the survey together with the results obtained.