The Chinese household registration system (hukou) may be the most important determinant of differential privilege in state socialist China. Urban registrants are entitled to the best jobs, education, housing, and health care -all of which are unavailable to those with rural registration. Thus, transforming one’s hukou status from rural to urban is a central aspect of upward mobility. But given ...

BACKGROUND Substantial progress has been made in reducing childhood mortality worldwide from 1990-2015 (Millennium Development Goal, target 4). Achieving target goals on this however remains a challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya's infant mortality rates are higher than the global average and are more pronounced in urban areas as compared to rural areas. Only limited knowledge exists about th...

OBJECTIVE To determine how specific job attributes influenced fourth year medical students' stated preference for hypothetical rural job postings in Ghana. METHODS Based on discussions with medical student focus groups and physicians in practice and in the Ministry of Health, we created a discrete choice experiment (DCE) that assessed how students' stated preference for certain rural postings...

The red-blue state and urban–rural narratives— which depict that people living in red states and rural areas oppose pro-LGB policies—are popular frames for describing variation in public opinion of LGB policies by geographic region. In a test case of a red state, we examine public opinion of pro-LGB policies to assess the accuracy of the red–blue and urban–rural narratives. Using data from a su...

Lack of awareness or recognition of homelessness The June issue of In Focus provides a synthesis of recent literature on rural homelessness. Homelessness is often conceptualized as an urban issue, which is reflected by the dearth of research on homelessness in rural areas. In reality, homelessness is pervasive in rural communities due to high rates of poverty, unemployment or underemployment, l...

There have been few epidemiological surveys to establish prevalence and associated risk factors of psychosis in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper reports a population-based epidemiological survey in rural Kenya of the prevalence of psychotic symptoms and their relationship with demographic, socio-economic and other risk factors. A random sample of 2% of all adults living in Maseno, Kisumu District...

Floods are a devastating kind of natural disaster. About half of the population in China lives in rural areas. Therefore, it is necessary to assess the flood disaster risk of rural housings. The results are valuable for guiding the rescue and relief goods layout. In this study, we take the severe flood disaster that happened at Kouqian Town in Jilin, China in 2010 as an example to build an risk...

BACKGROUND Health workforce shortages in rural and remote areas are a global challenge that almost every health system has to deal with. This study aimed to discover neurosurgeons' job preferences and propose policy interventions that could possibly increase their retention in rural, remote, or underserved areas. METHODS A discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted in November 2014 with a...