Public health
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The Chinese Government claims that China's health policy is primarily focused on prevention. However, this does not appear to be the case. Researchers with an interest in China's health policy may be aware that the Chinese Government launched a health reform in 2009 to improve the health status of the entire population by 2020.1 This health reform has been in place for 7 years, and only 4 years now remain to achieve the overall objectives by 2020. This study analyzed the main inputs and outputs of China's health reform in order to identify the main problems and highlight the major challenges. It is hoped that this study will provide some reference for health reform in China and other developing countries. ⋯ China should adjust the direction of its health reform as soon as possible to focus on improving health status rather than treatment of disease. In the future, as China's population ageing trend intensifies, China must take effective measures or the country's non-communicable disease rates will continue to increase. To meet this challenge, China's health reform should take effective measures to control the rising trend of the incidence of non-communicable diseases. First, China should focus on the core goal of its health reform policy, which is disease prevention. Second, China should focus on strengthening public health systems to effectively prevent and control key epidemic diseases. Third, China should increase the number of public health personnel, improve the level of education and training of public health personnel and increase the input of funds into the field of public health as soon as possible.
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Comparative Study
Comparison of poisonings managed at military and Veterans Administration hospitals reported to Texas poison centers.
There is little information on poisonings managed at military and Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals. This investigation described and compared poisonings reported to Texas poison centers that were managed at military and VA hospitals. ⋯ A number of differences were observed between poisonings managed at military and VA hospitals. These differing patterns of poisonings may need to be taken into account in the education, prevention and treatment of poisonings at these hospitals and among the populations they serve.
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Although racial and ethnic differences in HPV vaccination initiation are well established, it is unclear whether these disparities have changed over time. The role of health provider recommendations in reducing any racial and ethnic inequalities is also uncertain. This study addresses these gaps in the literature. ⋯ Our results suggest that racial and ethnic disparities in provider recommendations and HPV vaccinations have waned over time among males and females. While these trends are welcomed, additional interventions are warranted to increase overall rates of vaccination across race, ethnicity, and gender.