This study examines the importance of household surveys for evaluating the implementation of district-based health systems for the delivery of health services. The concepts underlying health surveys and the literature on health surveys in the Third World are reviewed, and significant methodological problems are also discussed. Although many authors dealing with this issue consider household health surveys of capital importance for the planning of health services, that was not the situation encountered by the author, who rarely found examples of the applicability of such studies. The potential use of less complex and quicker studies was a solution proposed by some authors to increase the presence of surveys in health planning. Finally, national health surveys are also analyzed.
Public Health; Health Planning; Health Services; Health Status