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Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is the main cause of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer patients go through painful long-term treatments and high medical costs. Prevention is better than cure. Hence, regular cervical screening is recommended for Hong Kong women to prevent this disease. Some studies have been conducted in Western countries to show that cost-effectiveness can be achieved by combining HPV vaccines with regular screening. The study is guided by three research groups on the future implication of the cost-effectiveness of three cervical cancer prevention strategies: (1) annual Pap smear for women aged 25–42, (2) HPV vaccination at age 12, and (3) HPV vaccination at age 12 combined with annual Pap smear screening at age 25–42. The three groups are compared in terms of their total lifetime cost, cost-effectiveness ratio and incremental life expectancy. The Markov model software is used as the main analytical tool. After analyzing, annual Pap smear screening is a cost-effective method to prevent cervical cancer that the total lifetime cost was approximately USD145.69; cost-effectiveness ratio was USD8.80/DALY; and incremental life expectancy was 2.72 years. Moreover, HPV vaccination combined with annual Pap smear screening is an effective way to prolong the life expectancy of women regardless of race that the total lifetime cost was approximately USD545.12; cost-effectiveness ratio was USD29.56/DALY; and incremental life expectancy was 2.84 years. Such result provides important insight for the formulation of a health care policy to prevent cervical cancer. This policy can save lives and reduce local treatment costs.

The economic reform in the PRC inaugurated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979 has changed the landscape of the regime's environmental governance by putting it in a more market-oriented context. As a strategy to strengthen administrative capacity in a situation heavily circumscribed by the limited resource support from local governments, the environmental protection authorities at all levels have established a sizable number of service organizations to provide them administrative support. These service organizations have to sponsor their own operation by engaging in revenue-generating or fund raising activities. This has led to the emergence and proliferation of service organizations in the environmental governance system in the last decade. This article will examine, from a state capacity perspective, institutional reform in the environmental governance system of the PRC1.

The body of literature that examines how institutional contexts affect environmental governance in advanced industrial countries finds that style of environmental regulation is country-specific. In the pluralist form of democracy like the United States, environmental policy formulation involves bargaining and compromises among interest groups and regulation enforcement through relatively formal and legalistic means. In the corporatist form of democracy like Sweden and Great Britain, in contrast, environmental policies are more accommodating to divergent societal interests and tend to be less formal in their enforcement. These variations in regulatory style have been attributed to differences in basic constitutional structures, regime types and cultures. How do institutional contexts affect the style of environmental regulation in China, which is both a non-democratic and developing country? This article examines China's regulatory style by focusing on environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulation in Shanghai. The Shanghai EIA system is analyzed in terms of policy ideology, policy content, regulatory process, public participation and policy consequences. It is shown that China's being a single-party regime with a ‘rule of persons’ tradition has heavily shaped its environmental governance. Based on Shanghai experience, China's style can be characterized as formal in requirement, agency-dominated in the regulatory process, legalistic in enforcement, and informal politics as the substance of regulation. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Since the mid-1980s, many books and articles have been published that examine China′s environmental problems. Some authors reported the alarming rate of environmental degradation in China, while others argued that post-Mao reforms created the conditions for more effective environmental management than in the past. More recently, in an attempt to move beyond broad generalizations about China′s environmental management capabilities, some authors have examined China′s environmental management system at the local level, focusing on problems ranging from policy implementation to local officials′ environmental consciousness.