Articles: health.
-
Bull. World Health Organ. · Jan 1993
Review Comparative StudyHealth care in China: a rural-urban comparison after the socioeconomic reforms.
This article provides an overview of the current Chinese health care system with particular emphasis on rural-urban differences. China's post-1978 economic reforms, although they improved general living standards, created some unintended consequences, as evidenced by the disintegration of the rural cooperative medical system and the sharp reduction in the number of "barefoot doctors", both of which were essential elements in the improvement of health status in rural China. ⋯ These changes have disproportionately affected the rural health care system, leaving the urban system basically intact, and have contributed to the rural-urban disparity in health care. Based on recent data the article compares current rural-urban differences in health care policy, systems, resources, and outcomes, and proposes potential solutions to reduce them.
-
During a three-months period a cross-sectional study of the measurements of head circumference, mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC) and weight was performed in 515 under five-year-old children in Kyeni, Kenya. Growth of Kyeni children seems to develop according to international standards for weight-for-age, MUAC-for-age and head circumference and for all parameters the average remains above minus 2 SD of the standard. Despite the presence of anthropometric malnutrition and downward trend in weight-for-age, MUAC-for-age and to a lesser degree the head circumference-for-age, the average growth of the Kyeni children in Kenya is within normal limits of international references.