Profiling the victims: public awareness of pollution-related harm in China

This article aims to identify factors which influence public awareness of health or economic harm from pollution in China. Based on an analysis of the China General Social Survey (CGSS) carried out nationwide by Renmin University and HKUST in 2006, it focuses on awareness of pollution-related harm or self-identification as a pollution victim. The analysis tests three groups of hypotheses about how self-identified victims differ from others: first, in terms of the environmental conditions they experience, such as the actual level of pollution and types of neighbourhoods they inhabit; second, in terms of resources including material and information resources, time, social capital and political experience; and third, in terms of political attitudes. The conclusion discusses implications for the politics of public participation in environmental governance in China

Predictors of support for state for state social welfare provision in Russia and China

This article analyses the determinants of support for state social welfare provision in Russia and China on the basis of a four-stage recursive model using two waves of the World Values Survey. It hypothesises that support is a function of economic self –interest, tapped by subjective economic satisfaction and relative income; ideology including beliefs about market fairness and inequality aversion; as well as temporal context. It finds that subjective economic satisfaction reduces support; inequality aversion is a positive influence, while beliefs about market fairness matter in different ways. Support increased over the period spanning the 2008 global financial crisis

Does refusal bias influence the measurement of Chinese political trust?

Measurements of Chinese political trust may be inaccurate due to ‘refusal bias’, resulting from unwillingness of people with certain attitudes to take part in surveys. Such bias is especially problematic because researchers usually have little or no information about refusers. Nevertheless, techniques have been developed which allow correction of refusal bias by extrapolating from reluctant or difficult respondents on the basis of various measures of response propensity. Using data from a nationwide survey conducted in China in the winter of 2012/13, this article shows that this type of correction procedure improves the accuracy of measurement of the Communist Party membership rate, and produces significantly lower estimates of trust in the central government/Party leadership, trust in local government and support for the current system of government. Refusal bias is likely to result from the social desirability of expressing political trust and support under authoritarian conditions

Social Accountability for Safe and Sustainable Domestic Water Provision in Dar es Salaam and Morogoro

This paper reports the full results of a baseline survey on access to water for domestic use and social accountability in four districts of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, and Morogoro, a provincial town around 200 kilometres west of Dar. From 7th to 29th March 2018, the survey team interviewed 2,164 adults about their access to water, perceptions of water quality, sanitation and hygiene facilities, readiness to pay for water services, social accountability for water provision, civic engagement and social demographics. The survey included core questions developed by the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene, as well as questions on social accountability and civic engagement developed in previous rounds of the Afrobarometer, Asian Barometer, European Social Survey and Twaweza’s SzW survey programmes. Details of sampling procedures are provided at the end of the report

Explaining public satisfaction with health care systems: findings from a nationwide survey in China

Objective: To identify factors and covariates associated with health care system satisfaction in China. Context: Recent research suggests that socio-demographic characteristics, self-reported health, income and insurance, ideological beliefs, health care utilization, media use and perceptions of services may affect health care system satisfaction, but the relationships between these factors are poorly understood. New data from China offers the opportunity to test theories about the sources of health care system satisfaction. Design: Stratified nationwide survey sample analysed using multilevel logistic regression. Setting and participants: 3,680 Chinese adults residing in family dwellings between 1 November 2012 and 17 January 2013. Main outcome measure: Satisfaction with the way the health care system in China is run. Results: We find only weak associations between satisfaction and socio-demographic characteristics, income and self-reported health. We do, however, find that satisfaction is strongly associated with having insurance and belief in personal responsibility for meeting health care costs. We also find it is negatively associated with utilization, social media use, perceptions of access as unequal and perceptions of service providers as unethical. Conclusions: To improve satisfaction, Chinese policy makers – and their counterparts in countries with similar health care system characteristics – should improve insurance coverage and the quality of health services, and tackle unethical medical practices

'Market justice' in China and Russia

Market justice is an important concept in neoliberal discourses legitimating unequal distribution of welfare within societies. This article explores the question of how useful it is for understanding distributive justice attitudes in Russia and China. It is based on a comparative literature review and an analysis of focus group discussions carried out in most provincial cities in both countries in 2012 and 2013. The literature review shows that Russia is closer to a neoliberal state. China, by contrast, has never followed neoliberal prescriptions, either ideologically or as a matter of practical policy, pursuing instead the goal of a ‘socialist market economy’. The focus group discussions show that Chinese tend to view responsibility for welfare as shared between the state and individuals, whereas Russians, depending on their ideology, tend to view welfare as the exclusive responsibility of either the state or the individual. Russians are also more cynical about the way their economy works, suggesting their support for individual responsibility may sometimes shade into social Darwinism

Explaining public participation in environmental governance in China

This article uses nationwide survey data to answer two questions: who participates in environmental governance in China and why? First it explores the social structural characteristics that distinguish participants, finding that city dwellers, the more educated and those with higher incomes and higher social status are more likely to participate, while women, the elderly, those with rural residence registration and migrants are less likely. It then tests two main explanations as to why people participate in environmental governance: instrumentality and identity. Participation is associated with attention to conservation issues, the perceived effectiveness of local environmental governance, knowledge of environmental problems, reading newspapers and magazines, voting in local elections, identification with a middle-class lifestyle and observance of Western holidays. Combining the analyses into a structural model shows that instrumental and identity-related variables account for nearly all of the social structural variation in participation. Participation is thus a function both of instrumental considerations and identities

Persistent hypertriglyceridemia in statin-treated patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Purpose: This paper reports the results of an audit that assessed the prevalence of residual hypertriglyceridemia and the potential need for intensified management among patients with statin-treated type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in primary care in the UK. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional, observational, systematic audit of patients with diagnosed diabetes from 40 primary care practices was undertaken. The audit collected basic demographic information and data on prescriptions issued during the preceding 4 months. T2DM patients were stratified according to the proportion that attained European Society of Cardiology treatment targets. Results: The audit collected data from 14,652 patients with diagnosed diabetes: 89.5% (n = 13,108) of the total cohort had T2DM. Of the people with T2DM, 22.2% (2916) were not currently receiving lipid-lowering therapy. Up to approximately 80% of these people showed evidence of dyslipidemia. Among the group that received lipid-lowering therapy, 94.7% (9647) were on statin monotherapy, which was usually simvastatin (69.5% of patients receiving statin monotherapy; 6707). The currently available statins were prescribed, with the most common dose being 40 mg simvastatin (44.2%; 4267). Irrespective of the statin used, around half of the patients receiving statin monotherapy did not attain the European Society of Cardiology treatment targets for triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, and total cholesterol. Conclusion: T2DM patients managed in UK primary care commonly show persistent lipid abnormalities. Clinicians need to optimize compliance with lipid-lowering and other medications. Clinicians also need to consider intensifying statin regimens, prescribing additional lipid-modifying therapies, and specific treatments aimed at triglyceride lowering to improve dyslipidemia control in statin-treated patients with T2DM

Tuberculosis in Scotland, 1870-1960

No abstract available

Postgraduate attachment to general practice: influence on doctors’ future career intentions

Recruitment of medical graduates to general practice careers in the UK, as in other developed countries, remains challenging. Currently general practice attracts fewer doctors than health care planners anticipate will be needed to meet the burgeoning health needs of an ageing population. Understanding the factors that influence doctors in their career choices is important to manpower planners, the profession and society as a whole. A two year postgraduate foundation programme for all doctors was introduced into the UK in 2006. One of its main intentions was to provide doctors with postgraduate clinical attachments that would assist them in making informed career choices. This has resulted, for the first time, in large numbers of recent medical graduates experiencing several specialties before applying for specialty specific training programmes. The main aim of this thesis was to assess the influence of a four month postgraduate attachment in general practice in the second foundation year on doctors’ career intent. It was hypothesised that the attachment would have a positive impact on recruitment to general practice careers. This hypothesis was tested using a combined quantitative and qualitative approach. A literature review examined career decision making in medicine. It was divided chronologically into sections covering decision making at school, university and in the early postgraduate years. In addition a section focussed on decision making in careers other than medicine. A validated career inventory (sci 59) measuring change in career preference was selected for use in this study. The output is in the form of career rankings among 59 medical specialties. In addition, a semi-structured interview questionnaire was developed based on themes emerging from the literature review and was refined following piloting. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using NVivo 7. The study was conducted in the Kent, Surrey and Sussex Deanery between 2005 and 2008. Participants (n=225) included all doctors whose second foundation year programme included a four month attachment in general practice. They were sent a sci 59 questionnaire at the beginning of their attachment and a further questionnaire at the end. Those responding to both questionnaires were invited to take part in an interview. 112 participants completed sci 59 questionnaires at the beginning and end of their 4 months attachment. Initial analysis demonstrated a small, statistically non-significant improvement in career intent towards general practice. Using a measure that reflects movement in ranking between the two questionnaires, further analysis showed a small, statistically significant, improvement in the ranking of general practice among participants who had low initial rankings for general practice. 30 participants were interviewed. Placements in general practice during the second foundation year were generally regarded in a very positive light. Doctors particularly valued ongoing relationships with patients as well as involvement with local communities. They commented on the high quality of supervision and the structured learning environment of their attachments. General practice was also seen as a better lifestyle option than other main specialties as well as offering flexible working opportunities. New findings included the observation that career ranking for general practice improved following a four month postgraduate attachment in general practice among those less inclined to general practice as a career in the first place. Thematic analysis of transcribed interviews revealed enhanced respect, among foundation doctors, for general practice as a career option irrespective of their own eventual career intent. This improved regard for general practice among doctors intent on specialising may be important in the context of persisting disparagement of general practice by some students, clinicians and teachers. It may also be helpful in engendering mutual respect and more effective working relationships between specialists and generalists in the future