New market, new challenge, new opportunity (1)--overview of China rural healthcare & design methodology.

China has a largest population in the world (1.3Billion) and 0.9 Billion is rural population. Most of rural people earn less than US$3/day, and they are called 'Base of the economic pyramid (BoP)'. Compared with high level market, BoP is a new market, which means a low individual profit, but a large population. This paper discusses the healthcare issues in rural China (BoP) and study their healthcare needs through field study and case studies. This research is carried out within the framework of 'Design for Sustainability at Base-of-the-Pyramid (BoP)' programme of the School of Industrial Design Engineering at Delft University of Technology. And the aim of this research is to provide a low cost advanced healthcare product design, which will meet poor's needs and create a business case for commercial partners.