The importance of close collaboration between medical schools and ministries of health, in order to meet the changing needs of the community and strengthen health care, has been repeatedly emphasised at meetings of Commonwealth Health Ministers in recent years. At their 1977 meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, Ministers recommended that medical schools should define their goals in relation to national health needs. In 1980, when they met in Arusha, Tanzania, Health Ministers further stressed the importance of orientating medical training towards community health issues and a team approach to primary health care, and considered that such orientation could be achieved only through appropriate revisions of curricula.