Medical technologies in developing countries: a pilot programme for the setting up of a regional centre for maintenance of medical equipment in Ethiopia.

In the last years a new approach to cooperation programmes with developing countries has been followed. It critically considers cooperation as donation and makes a big contribution to cooperation for the development of developing countries. For such reasons some topics such as 'education' and the 'management of the health services and technologies' have become more important than in the past. The authors report, first on some general aspects of the cooperation programmes in this field and, secondly, on some experiences relating to a cooperation programme for the management of medical technologies in Ethiopia.