Mapping Supply and Demand in Kentucky\u27s Health Care System

A report submitted by Timothy S. Hare to the Research and Creative Productions Committee in 2004 on the geographical distribution of supply and demand in Kentucky\u27s health care system

Healthcare Utilization, Deprivation, and Heart-Related Disease In Kentucky

A report submitted by Timothy S. Hare to the Research and Creative Productions Committee in 2005 on the relationship between patterns of healthcare facility utilization for heart-related disease in Kentucky

The Unequal Burdens of Repatriation: A Gendered Analysis of the Transnational Migration of Mongolia's Kazakh Population

Beginning in 1992, the newly independent government of Kazakhstan has facilitated the in-migration of 944,000 Kazakhs from neighboring countries, with the majority migrating as family units. Using the post-Soviet repatriation of Kazakhs as an example, we illustrate in this article how socially constituted notions about gender and kinship help reinforce institutional and informal power structures that favor men at three different points in the migration process: in making the decision to migrate, in dealing with the bureaucratic aspects of migration, and in facing the consequences of migration. First, patriarchal power dynamics often mean that women have less influence than men on the decision to migrate. Second, the legal framework for repatriation is based on an implicit assumption that Kazakh households correspond to a patriarchal model, and this has financial consequences for women. Third, transnational migration widens the physical separations from natal kin that women already experience due to Kazakh kinship practices that emphasize patrilineal descent, clan-based exogamy, and patrilocal marriage

Healthcare Utilization, Deprivation, and Heart-Related Disease in Kentucky

Kentucky is a rural southern state with the third highest heart disease rate and one of the highest poverty rates in the country, a situation that often leads to decreased access to and utilization of healthcare facilities. We assess the relationship between patterns of healthcare facility utilization for heart-related disease and material deprivation for and explore the geographic clustering and possible overlaps among material deprivation, heart disease prevalence, healthcare facility utilization, and incidence severity. We find significant clustering of healthcare facility utilization in southeastern Kentucky that corresponds with high levels of socio-economic deprivation and high rates of heart-related disease mortality. The findings suggest the need for increased services and interventions to lower the risk and prevalence of heart disease and increased research to understand better who utilizes healthcare services and their relationships to gaps in service delivery and utilization

Mobility and Immobility in a Transnational Context: Changing Views of Migration among the Kazakh Diaspora in Mongolia

Inquiry into the causes and outcomes of transnational migration spans numerous disciplines, scales and methodological approaches. Fewer studies focus on immobility. Utilizing the Kazakh popula-tion of Mongolia as a case study, this paper considers how non-migrants view the economic and cultural costs of migrating. We posit that three factors, including local place attachments specific to Mongolia, access to information about life in Kazakhstan and the importance of maintaining social networks in Mongolia, contribute substantially to their decision to not migrate. Our findings suggest that the decision to not migrate can be very strategic for non-migrants in highly transnational contexts.Mongolia; Kazakh diaspora; return migration; cultural costs; non-migrants

Discovering a Sense of Well-Being through the Revival of Islam: Profiles of Kazakh Imams in Western Mongolia

Throughout Central Asia, the end of communism has been marked by a significant change in the management and influence of local mosques. In many rural areas, small underground mosques operated by informally trained, elderly moldadar have been supplanted by newly constructed mosques, led by younger, foreign-educated local imamdar and financed by governmental and private donations from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. From several perspectives, this “revival” of Islam is characterized in a way that implies that increased religiosity and piety is somewhat problematic. In this essay, we argue that such an approach prevents an understanding of how religious changes are enhancing the spiritual, social and material well-being of certain actors. We explore the utility of the concept of well-being by focusing on the everyday lives of Kazakh imamdar in western Mongolia. Approximately 100,000 ethnic Kazakhs live in the western Mongolian province of Bayan-Olgii, where they comprise about 80% of the population. Although a significant portion of the population has been migrating to Kazakhstan in the post-socialist period, the Kazakhs who choose to remain in Mongolia have experienced a significant increase in religious freedom. In this context, the new cohort of imamdar are playing an important mediating role as members of the local population reinterpret and renegotiate their identity as Muslims. In addition to finding spiritual well-being through their knowledge of Islam, these imamdar are acquiring social status and economic security from their positions as local religious leaders. This essay is based on six months of ethnographic fieldwork in western Mongolia.National Science Foundatio