Australia's rural hospitals face most of the same issues and challenges faced by metropolitan hospitals. However they also face additional challenges around geographic isolation, their iconic status and role as major employers in local communities, and their close relationship with community based health services. Future opportunities include more formal integration with community service throu...

Figure 1: Improved Village Housing in Gaochun, Jiangsu. Photo by Fulong Wu This chapter introduces the practice of rural village improvement in Jiangsu province of China. The program has profound implications for China’s sustainable urbanization and the development of better urban and rural habitats. Jiangsu’s village improvement program is an experiment to transform the built environment in ru...

The movement of human populations across the planet has character ized human societies throughout history. Historically, resource scarcity or depletion has induced this movement. In recent years, rural populations and their relationships to their environment are again attracting growing interest, especially in connection with population change and particularly migration. Rural areas contain mos...

Students’ academic achievement as the community capital depends on the appropriate educational, physical, and psychological environment. Since students spend 20% of their time at school, and due to their high vulnerability to health problems and their value for the family, attention and promotion of their educational environment health is essential. A descriptive cross-sectional study was condu...

This article investigated 36 administrative villages in Heilongjiang Province, Jilin Province and Liaoning Province. The questionnaires ask about the issuance of local rural sanitation, solid waste, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, the use of plastic film and environmental protection activities. Statistics based on the questionnaires are as follows: Organic Waste is the major part of rural sol...

INTRODUCTION There is evidence that living in a rural environment confers certain health advantages in terms of health and wellbeing. However, there is limited knowledge of patients' perspectives on determinants of health in rural areas. The aim of the present study was to explore determinants of health, health needs, and healthcare services in a rural community in the west of Ireland. METHOD...

PURPOSE Despite increasing evidence that the physical environment impacts on physical activity among urban-dwellers, little attention has been devoted to understanding this relationship in rural populations. Work in this area is further hindered by a lack of environmental measures specifically designed for rural settings. This qualitative study aimed to explore the salience of urban physical ac...

PURPOSE Children's health is influenced by the context in which they live. We provide a descriptive essay on the status of children in rural America to highlight features of the rural environment that may affect health. DESCRIPTION We compiled information concerning components of the rural environment that may contribute to health outcomes. Areas addressed include the economic characteristics...