Primary care in China: Population diversity and health disparity

Recent decades have seen the increased levels of disparity in health between difference social groups in China.  Such rising disparities both reflect a general lack of importance given to person’s health as a fundamental capability and less emphasis on what we should do with shortcomings of the public healthcare delivery system and policies in China. China is a country of diverse populations, with a population of 1.3 billion and 56 officially recognized ethnic groups. About 8% of the total population constitutes minorities. Diversity in health is generally concentrated on city and rural, and cultural and racial variations.  The most common and immediate reasons for diversity in health factors include genetic predisposition or other biological factors. However, there are very few genetic and biological conditions responsible for health diversity which can differentiate among the people of different racial and ethnic. There are various other factors clearly associated with health disparity, including access to health care, socioeconomic condition, health insurance status, and cultural and spiritual beliefs, age, gender, education level, and physical disabilities. In view of the impotence of the issues of primary care in China, the following points will be discussed:
1,  Chinese population genetics
2,  The value and social determinants of health from the human development perspective, with particular reference to China;
3,  Challenges to China’s healthcare system reform and directions of future reform, and strategies for establishing an equitable and effective health system in China;
4,  Health and health equity for the vulnerable groups, including the rural population, the urban poor, migrants, women, children, the elderly, and regional health disparities;
5,  A comparison of the health and health care delivery systems in the urban and rural areas in China;
6,  Introduce a new initiative : Sub-Optimal Health.