(Over)eating success: the health consequences of the restoration of capitalism in rural China.
This paper reviews and evaluates some of the changes that have occurred in the Chinese health care system during the reform era associated with Deng Xiaoping (1978-1993). The reforms have helped to enrich the long suffering peasants in the Chinese countryside, and in many areas the peasants have experienced a significant improvement in the quality of their lives, including greater access to health care facilities, and better diets. The paper also considers some of the potentially negative side effects of the reform era, including the increasing income inequality between urban and rural areas; the commodification of Chinese medicine; declining access to health care for peasants in the poorest regions; and a concern about the changing patterns of diet and nutrition in the newly enriched parts of the Chinese countryside.
Smith
C J
CJ
Department of Geography and Planning, State University of New York, Albany 12222.
D002423:Cause of Death; D002681:China; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D003906:Developing Countries; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D009026:Mortality; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D011056:Political Systems; D011788:Quality of Life; D012423:Rural Health / Q000639:trends*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014504:Urban Health / Q000639:trends*
D002784:Cholesterol