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Health Workforce Equity in Urban Community Health Service of China

Author

Listed:
  • Rui Chen
  • Yali Zhao
  • Juan Du
  • Tao Wu
  • Yafang Huang
  • Aimin Guo

Abstract

Objectives: To reveal the equity of health workforce distribution in urban community health service (CHS), and to provide evidence for further development of community health service in China. Methods: A community-based, cross-sectional study was conducted in China from September to December 2011. In the study, 190 CHS centers were selected from 10 provinces of China via stratified multistage cluster sampling. Human resources profiles and basic characteristics of each CHS centers were collected. Lorenz curves and Gini Coefficient were used to measure the inequality in the distribution of health workforce in community health service centers by population size and geographical area. Wilcoxon rank test for paired samples was used to analyze the differences in equity between different health indicators. Results: On average, there were 7.37 health workers, including 3.25 doctors and 2.32 nurses per 10,000 population ratio. Significant differences were found in all indicators across the samples, while Beijing, Shandong and Zhejiang ranked the highest among these provinces. The Gini coefficients for health workers, doctors and nurses per 10,000 population ratio were 0.39, 0.44, and 0.48, respectively. The equity of doctors per 10,000 population ratio (G = 0.39) was better than that of doctors per square kilometer (G = 0.44) (P = 0.005). Among the total 6,573 health workers, 1,755(26.7%) had undergraduate degree or above, 2,722(41.4%)had junior college degree and 215(3.3%) had high school education. Significant inequity was found in the distribution of workers with undergraduate degree or above (G = 0.52), which was worse than that of health works per 10000 population (P

Suggested Citation

  • Rui Chen & Yali Zhao & Juan Du & Tao Wu & Yafang Huang & Aimin Guo, 2014. "Health Workforce Equity in Urban Community Health Service of China," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0115988
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115988
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Druckman, A. & Jackson, T., 2008. "Measuring resource inequalities: The concepts and methodology for an area-based Gini coefficient," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 242-252, April.
    2. Smith, Samantha & Normand, Charles, 2011. "Equity in health care: the Irish perspective," Health Economics, Policy and Law, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(2), pages 205-217, April.
    3. Gastwirth, Joseph L, 1972. "The Estimation of the Lorenz Curve and Gini Index," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 54(3), pages 306-316, August.
    4. Yali Zhao & Rui Chen & Bo Wang & Tao Wu & Yafang Huang & Aimin Guo, 2014. "General Practice On-the-Job Training in Chinese Urban Community: A Qualitative Study on Needs and Challenges," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(4), pages 1-11, April.
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    1. Bin Zhu & Chih-Wei Hsieh & Yue Zhang, 2018. "Incorporating Spatial Statistics into Examining Equity in Health Workforce Distribution: An Empirical Analysis in the Chinese Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-15, June.
    2. Suhang Song & Beibei Yuan & Luyu Zhang & Gang Cheng & Weiming Zhu & Zhiyuan Hou & Li He & Xiaochen Ma & Qingyue Meng, 2018. "Increased Inequalities in Health Resource and Access to Health Care in Rural China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Jing Feng & Wenyuan Sang & Zihui Lei & Ge Qu & Xinyan Li & Adamm Ferrier & Heng Jiang & Bo Pu & Yong Gan, 2023. "The impact of burnout on turnover intention among Chinese general practitioners: The mediating effect of job satisfaction and the moderating effect of professional identity," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 69(3), pages 705-713, May.
    4. Peige Song & Zhenghong Ren & Xinlei Chang & Xuebei Liu & Lin An, 2016. "Inequality of Paediatric Workforce Distribution in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-13, July.
    5. Jabrullah Ab Hamid & Muhamad Hanafiah Juni & Rosliza Abdul Manaf & Sharifah Norkhadijah Syed Ismail & Poh Ying Lim, 2023. "Spatial Accessibility of Primary Care in the Dual Public–Private Health System in Rural Areas, Malaysia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-21, February.

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