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China has been contributing to new approaches to global governance. The Health Silk Road (HSR), a significant component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was proposed by China in 2016. This paper claims that HSR is a new institution introduced alongside the existing WHO-led multilateral health system, and its relationship with the existing system can be described as layering. Having explored the new development of HSR during COVID-19, this paper further argues that while HSR has its unique strength in making contributions to global health governance and economic recovery, it faces a prominent issue of securitisation in the context of China-U.S. strategic competition, suspicion of the quality of medical products and sectoral fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rate of infectious disease outbreaks has been accelerating over the past two decades, from the SARS epidemic in 2003 to COVID-19 in 2020. Termed by some as the twenty-first century's first pandemic, SARS originated in China and alerted the country to the importance of public health and epidemic response. After SARS, China improved its health infrastructure and reformed its political and legal health governance system. The emergence of COVID-19 from Wuhan in late 2019 put those reforms to the test. This paper analyses China's public health and epidemic response policies from a historical perspective, tracing the evolution of Chinese public health policies after the SARS outbreak in 2003. This paper assesses China's response to COVID-19 and how post-SARS policy reforms, particularly in epidemic response, played out on the ground in Wuhan. What policies worked well? What were the challenges faced? Based on the policy analysis, this paper presents recommendations for how China can improve its epidemic response through strengthened infectious disease surveillance, more transparent political coordination, and expanded public health infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gender norms, roles and relations differentially affect women, men, and non-binary individuals' vulnerability to disease. Outbreak response measures also have immediate and long-term gendered effects. However, gender-based analysis of outbreaks and responses is limited by lack of data and little integration of feminist analysis within global health scholarship. Recognising these barriers, this paper applies a gender matrix methodology, grounded in feminist political economy approaches, to evaluate the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and response in four case studies: China, Hong Kong, Canada, and the UK. Through a rapid scoping of documentation of the gendered effects of the outbreak, it applies the matrix framework to analyse findings, identifying common themes across the case studies: financial discrimination, crisis in care, and unequal risks and secondary effects. Results point to transnational structural conditions which put women on the front lines of the pandemic at work and at home while denying them health, economic and personal security – effects that are exacerbated where racism and other forms of discrimination intersect with gender inequities. Given that women and people living at the intersections of multiple inequities are made additionally vulnerable by pandemic responses, intersectional feminist responses should be prioritised at the beginning of any crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports in the British media over the last 4 years have highlighted the schisms and contestations that have accompanied the reports of gender selective abortions amongst British Asian families. The position that sex-selection may be within the terms of the 1967 Abortion Act has particularly sparked controversy amongst abortion campaigners and politicians but equally among medical practitioners and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service who have hitherto tended to stay clear of such debates. In what ways has the controversy around gender-based abortion led to new framings of the entitlement to service provision and new ways of thinking about evidence in the context of reproductive rights? We reflect on these issues drawing on critiques of what constitutes best evidence, contested notions of reproductive rights and reproductive governance, comparative work in India and China as well as our involvement with different groups of campaigners including British South Asian NGOs. The aim of the paper is to situate the medical and legal provision of abortion services in Britain within current discursive practices around gender equality, ethnicity, reproductive autonomy, probable and plausible evidence, and policies of health reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The China National Tobacco Corporation (CNTC), which produces one-third of the world’s cigarettes, is the largest tobacco company in the world. Over the past 60 years, the CNTC has been focused on supplying a huge domestic market. As the market has become increasingly saturated, and potential foreign competition looms, the company has turned to expansion abroad. This paper examines the ambitions and prospects of the CNTC to ‘go global’. Using Chinese and English language sources, this paper describes the globalisation ambitions of the CNTC, and its global business strategy focused on internal restructuring, brand development and expansion of overseas operations in selected markets. The paper concludes that the company has undergone substantial change over the past two decades and is consequently poised to become a new global player in the tobacco industry. This article is part of the special issue ‘The Emergence of Asian Tobacco Companies: Implications for Global Health Governance’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The phenomenon of elderly patients staying in hospital emergency department observation units for extended time in urban China poses a challenge to China’s healthcare system and presents a social problem of inequality. In this paper, we analyse statistics collected from 16 major public hospitals in Beijing to assess the extent and intensity of the problem and examine interviews of medical professionals to understand the mechanisms linking the issue to the Chinese healthcare system. We study the issue with the literature on market transition theory and on China’s recent healthcare reforms and view this age-based inequality as an outcome of the economic and social transformations in China. We make a few policy recommendations including using age-specific bed turnover and mortality rates for evaluating performance, employing three different release-status dependent mortality rates of emergency department patients for the evaluation of hospitals, and improving the capacity of post-acute, ambulatory care and geriatric care services in urban China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodia’s current abortion rate and ratio could be among the highest in Southeast Asia. In 1997, the Cambodian parliament passed the first law regulating abortions. This law was adopted to contribute to reduce the high maternal mortality ratio, as a significant number of maternal deaths were believed to be related to complications of unsafe abortion. A decade later, the Ministry of Health had not yet established medical protocols for safe abortion access and women often continued to induce their own terminations or seek unsafe services. However, in 2009, the Cambodian authorities approved the importation and distribution of one manufactured abortion pill. In addition, manual vacuum abortions and medical abortion training programmes were implemented at the referral hospital level. How has this situation come about? What do we know about the local agencies of the transnational reproductive health policies related to safe abortion access in this country? This paper aims to analyse how history and intersections between global interventions, state policies, local moralities and individual strategies shape abortion policies, practices and technologies. Finally, our findings raise some issues for public health programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using HIV/AIDS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and avian influenza as case studies, this paper discusses the processes and dilemmas of China's participation in health governance, both at the domestic level and the global level. Globalization has eroded the boundary between public and private health and between domestic and global health governance. In addition, the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003 focused global attention on China's public health. As a rising power with the largest population on earth, China is expected by the international community to play a better and more active role in health management. Since the turn of this century, China has increasingly embraced multilateralism in health governance. This paper argues that China's multilateral cooperation is driven by both necessity and conscious design. International concerns about good governance and its aspiration to become a 'responsible' state have exerted a normative effect on China to change tack. Its interactions with United Nations agencies have triggered a learning process for China to securitize the spread of infectious diseases as a security threat. Conversely, China has utilized multilateralism to gain access to international resources and technical assistance. It is still a matter of debate whether China's cooperative engagement with global health governance can endure, because of the persistent problems of withholding information on disease outbreaks and because of its insistence on the Westphalian notion of sovereignty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the findings from an extensive geographic mapping study of female sex work venues located in the south western Chinese city of Zigong, in Sichuan province. Drawing upon the findings from quantitative research, secondary historical sources and field notes, composed during participant observation, we provide a nuanced portrait of how the operation of sex work can be conceptualised in spatial terms, where ‘space' is regarded as something socially constructed and historically contingent. The sex work geographies we analyse hold important implications for prevention work conducted in the region. When the sexual practices between sex workers and their clients are viewed against a wider geographic and historical backdrop, focus shifts from the properties and intentionalities of individuals towards the kinds of spaces where sex work operates, the organisation of which are underpinned by economic forces that have given rise to the rapid proliferation of small urban spaces in contemporary China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China's rapid economic growth over the last three decades has led to increased population wealth and the proliferation of entertainment centres where people can conduct business, relax and meet new people. Little is known about the sexual risk behaviours of employees at high-tier entertainment centres. This paper addresses this gap in knowledge by comparing HIV risk perception and sexual and reproductive health behaviours among female and male employees at three high-tier entertainment centres in two cities in China, comparing those who report a history of transactional sex to those who do not. In both cities, participants who reported a history of transactional sex were more likely than those without a history of transactional sex to report multiple sexual partnerships, more lifetime sexual partners, a history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), having anal sex and/or recent abortions, and were more likely to perceive themselves to be at risk for STIs/HIV. However, risk behaviour was also high among those with no history of transactional sex. These findings highlight the need for targeted sexual and reproductive health initiatives for employees in these work settings. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Chinese Government periodically enforces anti-prostitution laws through regular police presence in red light districts and through the arrests of brothel managers and sex workers. One of the most intense crackdowns on prostitution occurred throughout China in 2010. Using the ‘structure-agency’ framework and ethnographic approach, this paper examines the influence of the 2010 government anti-prostitution crackdown on female sex workers (FSWs). We observed 10 red light districts (6 cities and 2 counties) and interviewed 107 FSWs, 26 managers and 37 outreach workers working with FSWs. The findings describe variations in police practices and diverse strategies adopted by FSWs in response to police actions. The strategies include: soliciting sex outside of establishments in less visible channels, increasing the mobility and flexibility of sex work, changing sexual practices, sharing knowledge of how to identify policemen disguised as male clients and building personal relationships with local police. Our study suggests that, rather than disappearing as a result of crackdowns, the terms and content of sex work changed as a result of the FSWs' responses to police practices. Some of these responses potentially increased the health risks associated with sex work, but others laid the foundation for an effective response to police practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Global health has become an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. While much has been written in recent years about the Chinese presence in Africa, the growing numbers of Africans in China have attracted considerably less attention. Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine the emergence ofgoumai fuwu, or contracting with social organisations to provide social services, in the HIV/AIDS sector in China. In particular, I interrogate the outsourcing of HIV testing to community-based organisations (CBOs) serving men who have sex with men (MSM) as a means of scaling-up testing in this population, and how the commodification of testing enables new forms of surveillance and citizenship to emerge. In turn, I tie the scaling-up of testing and its commodification to the sustainability of CBOs as they struggle to survive. In recent years, the HIV/AIDS response in China has shifted to expanding testing among MSM in order to reduce new infections. This response has been catalysed by the transition to sexual contact as the primary transmission route for HIV and the rising rates of infection among MSM, leading government institutions and international donors to mobilise CBOs to expand testing. These efforts to scale-up are as much about testing as they are about making visible this hidden population. CBOs, in facilitating testing, come to rely on outsourcing as a long-term funding base and in doing so, unintentionally extend the reach of the state into the everyday lives of MSM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a study of Chinese immigrant religious institutions in New York City (primarily Christian and Buddhist), this paper explores why some religious institutions are more inclined than others to be involved in HIV-related work. Although numerous factors are likely to play a role, we focus on organisations' differing views on social engagement as an explanatory factor. We hypothesise that religious institutions that value social engagement ('civic') will be more inclined towards HIV/AIDS involvement than those that are more inward focused ('sanctuary'). Given that many religious institutions are fundamentally defined by their stance on the appropriateness of social engagement, better understanding of this key characteristic may help to inform community and government organisations aiming to increase religious institutions' involvement in HIV/AIDS-related work. Our analysis suggests that some organisations may be less interested in taking on the challenges of working in HIV/AIDS because of their general view that churches or temples should not be socially engaged. On the other hand, religious institutions that have concerns about social acceptability, fear of infection or lack of capacity - but generally embrace social engagement - may be more open to partnering on HIV/AIDS-related work because of their overriding community service orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to examine the UK National Health Service (NHS) in the historical context of its background reforms and to investigate future developmental strategies for China's health system. We focus on the central issues facing China's future healthcare development: equity and access. China and the UK have approached healthcare reform from opposite perspectives, the NHS has maintained the core principle of providing universal health coverage throughout the decades. However, due to increasing demand, reforms to improve and sustain efficiency have meant increasing government funding while introducing elements of a market system. Conversely, China has moved from a centrally planned system to a fee-for-service system, but serious problems of inequity and access call for new methods of organisation and financing. With the future of both systems under constant debate, international experience will play a vital role in formulating health system reform strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government has been prioritising the strengthening of its primary care system over the past two decades. This study reviews China's national policies in this domain from 2003 to 2018, incorporating academic literature and interviews with health officials and primary care providers. The aim is to assess these policies in alignment with the government's reform agenda and the ideal primary care system advocated in the public health literature. Initially focusing on network and infrastructure development, the Chinese government has progressively shifted its focus towards enhancing human resources and improving the service attributes of primary care facilities. Supported by detailed guidelines and increased funding, substantial progress has been made. Despite these advancements, significant gaps persist when comparing the current state of China's primary care system to the envisioned ideal. To gain a comprehensive understanding of these gaps, it is crucial to consider the Chinese government's agenda and the country's unique development trajectory, which has been influenced by its history of planned economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines three aspects of successful aging including subjective health, cognitive ability, and social participation and their relations with environmental conditions and environmental awareness. We used the seemingly uncorrelated regression and multilevel models to estimate the joint relationship by combining the Chinese General Social Survey (2013 and 2021) (N = 5404 and 1580 accordingly) and the Chinese Statistical Yearbook and used propensity score analysis to identify potential endogenous issues. The first finding is that older people who were men, married, lived in urban areas, or received social security had an edge in aging successfully. Secondly, the adverse effects of environmental pollution on older adults' cognitive ability and social participation can be reduced by the protective effects of environmental awareness. Additionally, air pollution had more apparent effects, and water pollution was more modest in social involvement. This study offers empirical results to enhance the well-being of the older population by lifting their environmental perception and improving environmental quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention works to eliminate tuberculosis (TB) disease by finding and treating cases of TB disease and expanding latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) testing and treatment to prevent TB disease. Approximately 70% of reported TB cases in the United States occur among non-U.S.–born persons. We conducted 15 focus groups with U.S. residents born in the six most common countries of birth among non-U.S.–born TB patients: Mexico, the Philippines, India, Vietnam, China and Guatemala. Participants reacted to 39 messages on LTBI and TB disease risk factors, the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, and LTBI testing and treatment. There was low awareness of LTBI, the TB blood test, and how the TB blood test is not affected by prior BCG vaccination. Several participants thought TB disease is contracted by sharing kitchenware. Some felt negatively targeted when presented with information about countries where TB disease is more common than the U.S. Findings highlight the need for communication aimed at increasing LTBI testing and treatment to include messages framed in ways that will be resonant and actionable to populations at risk. Focus groups revealed LTBI misconceptions which highlight areas for targeted education to decrease TB stigma and increase LTBI testing and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnitude of the HIV and syphilis epidemic among Chinese men ages 50 and older is unclear. In this study, we aimed to characterise and compare the prevalence of HIV and syphilis infections; linkage to care among those infected with HIV; and the geographic distribution of the two epidemics among elderly men who have sex with men (MSM) and non-MSM in Shanghai, China. This cross-sectional study involved 12,910 men ages 50 and above who participated in the HIV voluntary and counselling testing programme each year from 2008 to 2014. HIV prevalence among MSM in our sample ranged between 4.9% and 15.4%, while syphilis frequency among non-MSM decreased from 26.0% to 18.7%. Further, in 2014, MSM participants had a higher HIV prevalence than non-MSM (4.9% vs 1.8%), whereas syphilis was higher in older non-MSM compared to MSM (18.7% vs 12.4%). Among those infected with HIV, 121/211 (53.75%) of participants were linked to HIV treatment, where the linkage rate was comparable to that in Kunming [Zhao, S., Zhao, G., Zhang, W., liao, B., Chu C., Wang J., & Li, L. (2015). Compare the difference of efficiency between voluntary counseling testing and provider-initiated testing counseling for identifying HIV/AIDS in Kunming. Chinese Journal of AIDS & STD, 21(7), 623-625]. The high burden of HIV and syphilis among men ages 50 and older in Shanghai, China highlights the need to target older Chinese men, both MSM and non-MSM, with prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two common public models of community health centres (CHCs) exist in China, i.e. the ‘government-owned and government-managed’ CHCs (G-CHCs) and the ‘government-owned and hospital-managed’ CHCs (H-CHCs). Shanghai and Shenzhen are two Chinese megacities that lead the primary care development on the G-CHC and H-CHC models, respectively. Using a qualitative case study design, this study compares the management of the G-CHC model in Shanghai and H-CHC model in Shenzhen, through perspectives of a range of health providers. In each city, we randomly selected four CHCs and in total conducted 31 interviews with officers from the municipal health authorities, directors, GPs, nurses and public health doctors of the CHCs. When comparing with the H-CHC model in Shenzhen, the G-CHC model in Shanghai, a model with more simplified but accountable structure tended to present better management conditions, in terms of financial transparency, recruitment autonomy, community health workforce development (CHC staffing and family medicine training), funding and priority for public health. However, regardless of the models, staff retention remained a challenge. While our study tends to suggest that the G-CHC model in Shanghai presents better management conditions, future study can test whether and to what extent the model itself can lead to such differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the HIV epidemic continues to spread among older adults over 50 years old in China, little empirical research has investigated the interrelationships among ageism, adaptability, family support, and quality of life among older people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). In this cross-sectional study, among 197 older PLWHAs over 50 years old, path analytic modelling was used to assess the interrelationships among ageism, resilience, coping, family support, and quality of life. Compared with female PLWHAs, male PLWHAs had a higher level of resilience and coping. There were no significant differences in the scores of quality of life, ageism, family support, HIV knowledge, and duration since HIV diagnosis between males and females. The following relationships were statistically significant in the path analysis: (1) family support → resilience [β (standardised coefficient) = 0.18], (2) resilience → ageism (β = −0.29), (3) resilience → coping (β = 0.48), and (4) coping → quality of life (β = 0.24). In addition, male PLWHAs were more resilient than female PLWHAs (β = 0.16). The findings indicate that older PLWHAs do not only negatively accept adversity, but build their adaptability to positively manage the challenges. Family-based interventions need take this adaptability to adversity into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite global efforts to increase HIV test uptake among men who have sex with men (MSM), social stigma and negative attitudes toward homosexuality hinder the effectiveness of traditional test promotion campaigns. Increasing HIV test uptake requires greater understanding of the conditions that facilitate decisions to get tested. We conducted an online survey hosted by two of the most highly frequented MSM web portals in China. A generalised ordered logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine factors associated with HIV testing behaviour. Compared to men who had never tested for HIV, men who had tested in the past year were more likely to have never engaged in sex with women, have multiple male sex partners in the past 3 months and have disclosed their sexual orientation to others. MSM found testing at local Chinese Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (80.7%), gay men's community-based organisations (80.2%) and public hospitals (70.9%) to be acceptable, while saunas (50.5%) and gay bars (41.8%) were found to be unacceptable testing venues. Our study shows that MSM in China prefer to test at venues that guarantee confidentiality, quality and quick results. Our study also suggests that self-testing may be a feasible approach to increase test uptake. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Interventions for HIV prevention among female sex workers (FSWs) in China focus on HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) and individual behaviour change. An occupational health framework facilitates intervention across an array of health issues FSWs face including HIV/STI, violence, reproductive health, stigma and substance use. Through a case study of a community-based Jiaozhou (JZ) FSW programme, we developed a conceptual framework incorporating global discussions of structural approaches to HIV prevention with the specific social and structural contexts identified among FSWs in China. Based on ethnographic fieldwork between August 2010 and May 2013, we describe the evolution of this programme to its current occupational health focus and unpack the intervention strategies. We describe the critical features of the programme that have fostered success among FSWs including high-quality clinical services provided within a welcoming setting, responsive outreach work through staff and trained FSW peers, interpersonal and community-level engagement aimed at changing the local social and structural environments of sex work and tailored health education materials. This intervention differs from other projects in China by adopting a more holistic approach to FSW health that incorporates social issues. It also demonstrates the feasibility of structural interventions among FSWs even within an environment that has strong anti-prostitution policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population ageing is occurring in China at a breathtaking pace and rapidly becoming a major public health issue. Due to the one-child policy, rural/urban migration and other societal changes, the family-dependent long-term care (LTC) of the past will no longer suffice. Barely existent now, both institutional and community-based services will need to expand to meet the growing need. China is still at an earlier stage in economic development and will be challenged to build these services and train staff. Furthermore, many elders are not yet covered by financial and insurance support. This massive demographic transition requires political efforts to develop integrated and sustainable national LTC systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China's new health reform initiative aims to provide quality accessible health care to all, including remote rural populations, by 2020. Public health insurance coverage for the rural poor has increased, but rural women have fared worse because of lower status and lack of voice in shaping the services they need. Use of prenatal care, safe delivery and reproductive tract infections (RTIs) services is inadequate and service seeking for health problems remains lower for men. We present findings from a study of gender and health equity in rural China from 2002 to 2008 and offer recommendations from over a decade of applied research on reproductive health in rural China. Three studies, conducted in poor counties between 1994 and 2008, identified problems in access and pilot tested interventions and mechanisms to increase women's participation in health planning. They were done in conjunction with a World Bank programme and the global Gender and Health Equity Network (GHEN). Reproductive health service-seeking improved and the study interventions increased local government commitment to providing such services through new health insurance mechanisms. Findings from the studies were summarised into recommendations on gender and health for inclusion in new health reform efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the revisions to the International Health Regulations (IHR) in 2005, much attention has been turned to how states, particularly developing states, will address core capacity requirements. The question often examined is how states with poor health systems can strengthen their capacity to identify and verify public health emergencies of international concern. A core capacity requirement is that by 2012 states will have a surveillance and response network that operates from the local community to the national level. Much emphasis has turned to the health system capacity required for this task. In this article, I seek to understand the political capacity to perform this task. This article considers how the world's two most populous states,1 China and India, have sought to communicate outbreak events in times of crisis and calm. I consider what this reporting performance tells us of their capacity to meet their IHR obligations given the two countries differing political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 50 years, the United States has made major advances in human health surveillance, research and outbreak investigation that have helped reduce microbial contamination of food. In China, food safety has emerged as one of the country's most prominent domestic concerns, but there has been limited investment in surveillance, inter-agency coordination, outbreak investigation and data synthesis. After large outbreaks of Salmonella in the 1960s and E. coli O157:H7 in the 1990s, the United States transformed its approach to detecting and investigating foodborne infections, including deployment of a national, laboratory-based surveillance system that uses molecular subtyping. In China, the absence of a national, laboratory-based surveillance system means that it is difficult to rapidly detect a widely dispersed foodborne infection outbreak or the emergence of new foodborne infections. Based on lessons learned in the United States, we propose policy and administrative changes that China can adopt to strengthen detection and control of foodborne infections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male clients of sex workers have been overlooked in China's HIV prevention efforts. This study aims to examine men's practices and attitudes toward extramarital sexual relationships, motivations for visiting female sex workers (FSWs), perceptions of sexually transmitted infection (STI)/HIV risk and risk prevention strategies used. One hundred and eighty-six clients of FSWs with varying socio-economic statuses were interviewed in different sex work settings. Men described no conflict between their role as a client and a responsible family provider. They described social pressure from peers and business partners to visit FSWs, sexual pleasure and companionship as motivators to seek commercial sex. While some men reported no risks associated with visiting FSWs, others identified risks such as being arrested by the police, robbed by gangs and threatening the health of their families by contracting a STI. This study underscores the diversity of FSW clients and the need to understand the beliefs and behaviours of different client types to develop appropriate HIV prevention programmes. It also demonstrates the feasibility of recruiting different types of male clients, a hard-to-reach population for Chinese HIV prevention efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chinese Medical Teams have been working in developing countries since 1963 as a health diplomacy strategy. In 2010, 1252 Chinese medical personnel were assigned to 48 countries. We conducted a review of Chinese literature and governmental websites to describe the history and current distribution of Chinese Medical Teams around the world. In addition, we interviewed members of a 36-member Chinese Medical Team deployed to Sudan (primarily about their motivations to join the programme and the challenges and benefits they face), along with their Sudanese hosts. The most significant challenge health workers described was homesickness. Most members said they were able to maintain motivation through their curiosity and the doctor-friendly environment. All but two rated their own working performance as ‘good’ or ‘very good’, while their Sudanese colleagues consistently rated them even higher. Participants reported conflicting beliefs regarding the perceived responsibilities of the team and challenges around communication. Three pillars support the Chinese Medical Team programme in Sudan: bilateral government commitment, the professionalism of the Medical Teams, and the welcoming medical environment. Future success of this or similar Chinese programmes depend on the willingness of both governments to participate, the ongoing commitment of younger Chinese doctors, and the hospitality of physicians in the host country. There are also some threats to the programme, including a potentially diminishing need for Chinese doctors to support increasingly well-trained host country physicians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As result of its spectacular economic growth, millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty, making China a model for impoverished countries. Although, for many, economic growth has led to prosperity, ever-growing disparities exist between those who have benefited from the economic advancement and those left behind. Massive gaps in development exist between: regions, urban and rural and social groups. This contribution is to develop a detailed understanding of the health disparity in China by examining the discrepancies in major health indicators. Current efforts to reduce the disparities, and its challenges, opportunities and global implications are also assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]