This volume brings together the perspectives and expertise of both medical and social sciences. The major topics include criteria for the determination of health goals, the analysis of health policies, and the indicators of health status that may he used to judge the consequences of health practices and policies. Unmet health care needs, current national health policy and local planning, health data for policy and planning, and future directions in national health policy are also examined. These issues are then considered in light of the readiness of the sociomedical sciences to measure health status. Contributors discuss the behavioral measurement of health status, the measurement of psychological well-being, the assessment of dental health needs, and the possible impact of recently developed sociomedical health indicators on health policy.