Medical expenditure and rural impoverishment in China.

Thanks to continued economic growth and increasing income, the overall poverty rate has been on the decline in China. However, due to escalating medical costs and lack of insurance coverage, medical spending often causes financial hardship for many rural families. Using data from the 1998 China National Health Services Survey, the impact of medical expenditure on the poverty headcount for different rural regions was estimated. Based on the reported statistics on income alone, 7.22% of the whole rural sample was below the poverty line. Out-of-pocket medical spending raised this by more than 3 percentage points. In other words, medical spending raised the number of rural households living below the poverty line by 44.3%. Medical expenditure has become an important source of transient poverty in rural China.

Measuring perceived health outcomes in non-western culture: does SF-36 have a place?

This study explored the usefulness of a generic health assessment tool SF-36 in measuring perceived health outcomes in a developing-country setting. The adapted Bangla version was administered in 10 villages of Matlab sub-district in Bangladesh during second half of 1999. Respondents included currently-married males and females selected randomly from households stratified according to their association with women-focused development interventions of BRAC. Findings revealed that the respondents from BRAC households perceived their health status marginally better than the poor non-member group in most domains studied, sometimes significantly so, e.g. general and mental health (p < 0.05). The respondents from BRAC reported better 'current health' than their non-member counterparts. The gender difference in assessment of health status was noted among the groups. Age, education, and poverty were important determinants of perceived health status. SF-36 proved to be a useful tool for self-assessment of health status and group comparison when properly modified for cross-cultural adaptation.

Control de la presión arterial en una comunidad campesina Yamparaez (Departamento de Chuquisaca) / Control of the blood pressure in a rural community of Yamparaez (Department of Chuquisaca)

Presentamos este trabajo realizado en la comunidad campesina de origen quechua Yamparaéz del departamento de Chuquisaca, con una población de 840 habitantes (según el Instituto Nacional de Estadística). se ha examinado e interrogado a 299 personas de ambos sexos (35) a partir de los 20 años hasta por encima de los 70 años. Se han realizado un control de la presión arterial, medidads antropométricas de talla y peso. También se ha efectuado una encuesta sobre los hábitos dietéticos, consumo de sal, masticación de coca, ingestión de bebidas alcohólicas. Al azar y pese a la susceptibilidad y confianza se han tomado muestras de sangre y orina a 10 personas del grupo en estudio, para dosificar sodio, potasio. Se ha mandado a realizar u estudio químico de las tabletas de "Llijta", que los campesinos ingieren durante la masticación de coca, para comnocer su contenido de sodio, potasio y calcio. Del estudio efectuado en esta comunidad campesina, se establece que la hipertensión arterial se presenta menos de 1. Los valores de la media aritmética para ala presión arterial en los varones, presión sistólica de 110,11 y la diastólica 72,33mm Hg. en mujeres 107,9 y 68,6mm Hg. Se concluye que las bajas cifras de la presión arterial, estarían supeditadas a factores ambientales, como ser una mínima ingesta de sodio en la alimentación, bastante cantidad de potasio, las labores agrícolas, la falta de stress, dieta en base a carbohidratos, esacasa o ninguana corriente migratoria. Factores genéticos de adaptación