Practice and exploration of the tuition-free medical students' in rural areas of Sichuan province / 中国卫生政策研究

Objective:This paper summarizes the practical problems encountered in the implementation of the tuition-free medical students' policyin rural areas of Sichuan Province, and provides a reference for the implementation of this policy across the province. Methods :Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the principals of the orientation management policies of the health administrative departments and county level and primary health care in-stitutionsin Sichuan, and the focus group interviews were used to understand the dynamics of directed students. Results :The survey results showed that there were limited channels for students to understand the policy ; students' barren understanding of the work of grass-roots doctors ; credit and integrity files played a relatively low role in retaining medical talent students;the willingness of orientation students is higher, but there is a contradiction between applying for graduate students and retaining grassroots in rural areas ; and the relevant departments lacked a rational and efficient management mode for students. Conclusions :In order to ameliorate the construction of rural health human resources,policy administrators should place their emphasis on cultivating the sense of honor and responsibility in the rural-oriented tuition-free medical students'policy, improve the reward and punishment mechanism in policies, optimize the management and assessment process, and promote the orientation of the work among the various policy-participating departments in a more harmonious and orderly manner.

An update on finances and financial support for medical students in Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine

<p><b>INTRODUCTION</b>Increasing financial challenges have resulted in great debt among medical graduates worldwide. In Singapore, more scholarships and bursaries have been disbursed in recent years to support students who are financially challenged. We aimed to study the financial status of medical students in National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (i.e. NUS Medicine), Singapore, and the financial support available to them.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional quantitative study was performed. Surveys were distributed and completed by medical students of NUS Medicine. Information regarding household income, financial assistance, monthly allowance and expense, and concurrent occupations was collected. We compared our findings with the results of a similar study performed in 2007 and national income data.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>A total of 956 (66.2%) out of 1,445 medical students completed the survey. 19.5% and 58.5% of respondents came from households with monthly incomes < SGD 3,000 and > SGD 7,000, respectively. 20.6% of students had loans, 18.9% had scholarships and bursaries, and 14.4% worked to support themselves.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Medical school fees have risen by more than 50% over the past ten years. Our study found that there were increases in the proportion of students from both the lower- and higher-income segments, with proportionally fewer students from the middle-income segment. A large number of students were working and/or had some form of financial support. More should be done to meet the needs of financially challenged medical students to ensure equal access to quality medical education.</p>

Dietary and physical activity patterns of school children in an urban area of Sri Lanka.

Objective To provide information on nutritional status and dietary and physical activity pattern of 8-12 year old school children in an urban area of Sri Lanka. Method Seven schools in Colombo were randomly selected. These schools showed a fair representation of children of all social levels. Students of years 4, 5, 6 and 7 were included. 50 students from each grade of each school were randomly selected and recruited into study. The purpose of study was explained to the students and any withdrawals allowed. Medical officers performed the anthropometric measurements. Height was measured using a stadiometer and weight using an electronic weighing scale. Medical assessment was done in all children who participated in study. To define obesity and overweight, sex and age specific body mass index (BMI) cutoffs recommended by International Obesity Task Force were used. Age and sex specific BMI 5th percentile from revised NCHS (2000) growth charts were used to define thinness. Information regarding physical activity, behaviour, feeding practices and socioeconomic factors were obtained using a pretested questionnaire filled by parent/guardian. Data was analyzed using Epi Info 2000 (CDC, USA) software. Results One thousand two hundred and sixty six children were recruited to the study. Data of 1224 subjects were used in the anthropometric analysis, while 1102 data sets were used in analysis of dietary and physical activity. Of the latter group 44% were boys. The children belonged to 3 types of schools based on type of administration. About 12% each were from ages 8 and 12; the rest were almost equally distributed among the other 3 age categories. More than 80% of mothers had a level of education above GCE (O/L). 60.8% watched television for 1-2 hours each day during weekdays and 39.5% watched television for 3-4 hours during weekends. More than 50% engaged in daily physical activity for more than one hour during weekdays as well as weekends. 80.1% attended tuition classes. A similar distribution was seen in all age groups. Although consumption of vegetables was high, fruit consumption was not satisfactory. Majority had eggs or fish as their main source of protein. Prevalence of obesity and overweight increased with increase in family income and thinness was high among low socio-economic groups. Dental caries was the commonest health problem. Highest prevalence was among children from public non-national schools (48.7%), whilst public national and private schools had a prevalence of 10.5% and 11.8% respectively. Of the skin lesions commonest was scabies. Conclusion The main factor that influenced the nutritional status and related behaviour was the socioeconomic standard. Health programmes should be designed targeting these groups.

Equity Problem During Process of Mass Higher Education——Discussion on Tuition in Higher Education / 中华医学教育探索杂志

Popularization of higher education gives an impulse to the equity of education development,but if tuition in higher education is beneficial to realize education equity? This article analyses the unfairness problem of increasing tuition during the process of mass higher education,based on the situation of our country,and proposes some countermeasures to solve this problem.