The assessment of health needs is a key step in determining the nature and level of health service provision required in any global region. In dermatology, information on needs has provided information on the scale and impact of skin conditions in poor rural and urban populations. In such areas, additional problems in providing adequate services are access to trained health care professionals and cost to families and individuals, set against the background of a village-mixed economy. A further problem is health literacy, which may limit the use of services. However, some of the most comprehensive surveys of the prevalence of skin disease have been carried out in resource-poor countries, and attempts have been made to assess these along with their impact on individual disability. These studies and their outcomes are described in this article.
© 2011 The International Society of Dermatology.