Health needs assessment is primarily concerned with the benefits that can be expected from the provision of different kinds of health services. These are closely related to the levels of health risks and illness in the population and the expected effectiveness of the service in reducing health risks and the consequences of illness as indicated by results of evaluative research or by clinical consensus. Levels of disease and health risks in a population are commonly referred to as needs for health, and the levels of expected benefit are referred to as the needs for services or care.

        Key words: needs for health, needs for services, felt need, normative need, comparative need, health policy.