R4D China

Effects of management and land use change on soil carbon in China’s grasslands

Tue, 22 May 2012 05:19 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Wang ShiPing; Wilkes, A.; Zhang ZhiCai; Chang XiaoFeng; Lang, R.; Wang YanFen; Niu HaiShan. Management and land use change effects on soil carbon in northern China's grasslands: a synthesis. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment (2011) 142 (3-4) 329-340. [DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2011.06.002]

Summary: Grasslands cover about 40% of China's land area. This paper synthesizes 133 papers from China on the impacts of land use conversion and improved management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC) in China's grasslands. The synthesis finds that overgrazing and conversion of freely grazed grassland to cropland lead to an annual average decline of 2.3–2.8% in SOC, and have caused a loss of 30–35% of total grassland SOC in China. Improved management practices may reverse the loss of SOC. Exclosure of degraded grassland from grazing and conversion of cropland to abandoned fields (i.e. natural restoration) increased carbon content by 34% and 62% on average. Carbon sequestration rates were greatest during the first 30 yr after treatments began and tended to be greatest in the top 10 cm of soil. Carbon sequestration potential was negatively related to initial carbon and nitrogen concentrations in soils. Exclosure from grazing and the conversion of cropland to abandoned fields resulted in average carbon sequestration rates of 130.4 g C m−2 yr−1 for 0–40 cm soil and 128.0 g C m−2 yr−1 for 0–30 cm soil, representing annual average increases of 5.4–6.3%. Based on our results, achievement of the national objective to exclude grazing livestock from 150 million ha of China's grasslands and to establish 30 million ha of cultivated pasture by 2020 would sequester over 0.24 Pg C yr−1, which is equivalent to about 16% of fossil fuel CO2 emissions in China in 2006.

Current Status of Releases of Puccinia spegazzinii for Mikania micrantha Control

Fri, 18 May 2012 04:03 GMT

Document Type: Magazine/Newsletter/Newspaper Article
Creator: Ellison, C.; Day, M.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Ellison, C.; Day, M. Current Status of Releases of Puccinia spegazzinii for Mikania micrantha Control. Biocontrol News and Information (2011) 34: 1N-2N.

Summary: The rust fungus Puccinia spegazzinii was selected, screened for specificity to the target weed at CABI Europe – UK (EUK) and then released in India in 2005–7 by Assam Agricultural University and Kerala Forest Research Institute. Unfortunately, the rust apparently failed to establish persistent populations in the field. The effectiveness of subsequent releases in China in 2006, Taiwan in 2008, and Papua New Guinea and Fiji in 2009 is briefly discussed.

Implementation of National Essential Drug Policy: Analysis from a Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective

Tue, 15 May 2012 02:29 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Xiao, Y. (et al.)

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Xiao, Y. (et al.). Implementation of National Essential Drug Policy: Analysis from a Complex Adaptive Systems Perspective. Chinese General Practice (2011) 14 (5A) 1419-1421.

Building institutions for an effective health system: Lessons from China’s experience with rural health reform

Tue, 15 May 2012 01:22 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Bloom, G.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Bloom, G. Building institutions for an effective health system: Lessons from China’s experience with rural health reform. Social Science and Medicine (2011) 72 (8) 1302-1309. [DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2011.02.017]

Summary: This paper is concerned with the management of health system changes aimed at substantially increasing the access to safe and effective health services. It argues that an effective health sector relies on trust-based relationships between users, providers and funders of health services, and that one of the major challenges governments face is to construct institutional arrangements within which these relationships can be embedded. It presents the case of China, which is implementing an ambitious health reform, drawing on a series of visits to rural counties by the author over a 10-year period. It illustrates how the development of reform strategies has been a response both to the challenges arising from the transition to a market economy and the result of actions by different actors, which have led to the gradual creation of increasingly complex institutions. The overall direction of change has been strongly influenced by the efforts made by the political leadership to manage a transition to a modern economy which provides at least some basic benefits to all. The paper concludes that the key lessons for other countries from China’s experience with health system reform are less about the detailed design of specific interventions than about its approach to the management of institution-building in a context of complexity and rapid change.

FHS Inception Phase Report

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:31 GMT

Document Type: Report

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Anon. FHS Inception Phase Report. (2011) 16 pp.

Summary: The Inception Phase for the second phase of the Future Health Systems Research Program Consortium lasted from January-August 2011. This report summarizes the progress made during that time and lays out a plan of action for the next five years of work. In particular, the report summarizes progress made on research (including different analytical frameworks, themes and methodologies), management, capacity development, policy influence and research uptake and monitoring and evaluation of the program.

Economic burden of care for chronic diseases of poor rural households in China

Fri, 11 May 2012 08:19 GMT

Document Type: PowerPoint Presentation
Creator: Ding ShiJun; Zhe Li; Lucas, H.; Bloom, G.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Ding ShiJun; Zhe Li; Lucas, H.; Bloom, G. Economic burden of care for chronic diseases of poor rural households in China. Presented at iHEA conference, Toronto, Canada, 11 July 2011. (2011) 7 pp.

Summary: Henry Lucas of IDS briefly presents work on the burden of chronic diseases for the rural poor in China at the 2011 iHEA conference. The study, led by Ding Shijun for the POVILL programme, showed that poor rural Chinese households in the provinces examined had a skewed population distribution, with most of the population of working age having emigrated from these rural areas. This resulted in fairly high levels of serious illness -- more than 10% of households. For most households, prevalance was higher in poorer households, with the exception of diabetes. The insurance scheme for rural patients, the NCMS, did not cover outpatient costs for chronic diseases, which placed a significant burden on these rural households. Where inpatient care did not involve surgery, the cost of outpatient care for chronic diseases was similar -- but not covered by insurance.

Bridging the gaps among research, policy and practice in ten low- and middle-income countries: development and testing of a questionnaire for health-care providers

Fri, 11 May 2012 05:02 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Guindon, G.E.; Lavis, J.N.; Boupha, B.; Shi, G.; Sidibe, M.; Turdaliyeva, B.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Guindon, G.E.; Lavis, J.N.; Boupha, B.; Shi, G.; Sidibe, M.; Turdaliyeva, B. Bridging the gaps among research, policy and practice in ten low- and middle-income countries: development and testing of a questionnaire for health-care providers. Health Research Policy and Systems (2010) 8 (1) 3. [DOI: 10.1186/1478-4505-8-3]

Summary: Background: The reliability and validity of instruments used to survey health-care providers' views about and experiences with research evidence have seldom been examined. Methods: Country teams from ten low- and middle-income countries (China, Ghana, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mexico, Pakistan, Senegal and Tanzania) participated in the development, translation, pilot-testing and administration of a questionnaire designed to measure health-care providers’ views and activities related to improving their clinical practice and their awareness of, access to and use of research evidence, as well as changes in their clinical practice that they attribute to particular sources of research evidence that they have used. We use internal consistency as a measure of the questionnaire’s reliability and, whenever possible, we use explanatory factor analyses to assess the degree to which questions that pertain to a single domain actually address common themes. We assess the questionnaire’s face validity and content validity and, to a lesser extent, we also explore its criterion validity. Results: The questionnaire has high internal consistency, with Cronbach's alphas between 0.7 and 0.9 for 16 of 20 domains and sub-domains (identified by factor analyses). Cronbach's alphas are greater than 0.9 for two domains, suggesting some item redundancy. Pre- and post-field work assessments indicate the questionnaire has good face validity and content validity. Our limited assessment of criterion validity shows weak but statistically significant associations between the general influence of research evidence among providers and more specific measures of providers' change in approach to preventing or treating a clinical condition. Conclusion: Our analysis points to a number of strengths of the questionnaire - high internal consistency (reliability) and good face and content validity - but also to areas where it can be shortened without losing important conceptual domains.

Bridging the gaps among research, policy and practice in ten low- and middle-income countries: development and testing of a questionnaire for researchers

Fri, 11 May 2012 04:30 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Cameron, D.; Lavis, J.N.; Guindon, E.; Akhtar, T.; Posada, F.B.; Ndossi, G.D.; Boupha, B.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Cameron, D.; Lavis, J.N.; Guindon, E.; Akhtar, T.; Posada, F.B.; Ndossi, G.D.; Boupha, B. Bridging the gaps among research, policy and practice in ten low- and middle-income countries: development and testing of a questionnaire for researchers. Health Research Policy and Systems (2010) 8 (1) 4. [DOI: 10.1186/1478-4505-8-4]

Summary: Background: A questionnaire could assist researchers, policymakers, and healthcare providers to describe and monitor changes in efforts to bridge the gaps among research, policy and practice. No questionnaire focused on researchers' engagement in bridging activities related to high-priority topics (or the potential correlates of their engagement) has been developed and tested in a range of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Methods: Country teams from ten LMICs (China, Ghana, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Laos, Mexico, Pakistan, Senegal, and Tanzania) participated in the development and testing of a questionnaire. To assess reliability we calculated the internal consistency of items within each of the ten conceptual domains related to bridging activities (specifically Cronbach’s alpha). To assess face and content validity we convened several teleconferences and a workshop. To assess construct validity we calculated the correlation between scales and counts (i.e., criterion measures) for the three countries that employed both and we calculated the correlation between different but theoretically related (i. e., convergent) measures for all countries. Results: Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for sets of related items was very high, ranging from 0.89 (0.86- 0.91) to 0.96 (0.95-0.97), suggesting some item redundancy. Both face and content validity were determined to be high. Assessments of construct validity using criterion-related measures showed statistically significant associations for related measures (with gammas ranging from 0.36 to 0.73). Assessments using convergent measures also showed significant associations (with gammas ranging from 0.30 to 0.50). Conclusions: While no direct comparison can be made to a comparable questionnaire, our findings do suggest a number of strengths of the questionnaire but also the need to reduce item redundancy and to test its capacity to monitor changes over time.

Contraceptive Use Before and After Marriage in Shanghai

Thu, 03 May 2012 04:02 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Che, Y.; Cleland, J.

Production Year: 2003

Citation: Che, Y.; Cleland, J. Contraceptive Use Before and After Marriage in Shanghai. Studies in Family Planning (2003) 34 (1) 44-52. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1728-4465.2003.00044.x]

Summary: Data from a cohort study of 7,336 newly married fertile couples conducted between 1987 and 1995 were used to analyze contraceptive method choice, switching, and discontinuation in two districts of Shanghai. Twelve percent of couples reported that they had had sexual intercourse before marriage. Only one-third of those exposed to premarital risk of conception were protected by some form of contraception, mostly by withdrawal and periodic abstinence. As a consequence, a majority of these couples conceived, prompting rapid marriage in most cases and induced abortion among one-fourth of them. After marriage, about half of the couples used contraceptives to postpone the birth of their first child, but of these, 40 percent experienced an unintended pregnancy. Method choice was dominated by condoms, withdrawal, and abstinence. After the birth of their first child, almost all couples (98 percent) adopted contraceptives, but one-third of them used ineffective methods. Failure and discontinuation rates were high, giving rise to a high incidence of induced abortion. Increasing numbers of couples switched to the IUD, and this was the preferred method for the majority by the third year following childbirth. These results suggest that wider method choice that includes hormonal contraceptives should be provided to meet couples' needs in Shanghai and that the family planning program's attention should be focused specifically on sexually active unmarried individuals and on the availability of postpartum services.

Decentralization of the provision of health services to people living with HIV/AIDS in rural China: the case of three counties

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 05:30 GMT

Document Type: Journal Article
Creator: Zhang, X.; Miège, P.; Zhang, Y.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Zhang, X.; Miège, P.; Zhang, Y. . Decentralization of the provision of health services to people living with HIV/AIDS in rural China: the case of three counties. Health Research Policy and Systems (2011) 9 (1) 9. [DOI: 10.1186/1478-4505-9-9]

Summary: This study is based on a large-scale household survey and in-depth interviews of key informants that was conducted in villages in three counties of two provinces in China. We assess the new decentralized service provision system for people living with HIV/AIDS in rural populations in China. Since 2003, new social assistance schemes, and, more importantly, decentralization of routine treatment and care to community health stations, were progressively implemented in rural areas most affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Though some problems remain, such as persistent discrimination towards infected patients and the lack of sufficient training of medical staff, the new decentralized pattern of service provision has lowered barriers to health access and alleviated economic pressure on affected households.