Research

Changes in Chinese healthcare

Issued: Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:04:00 BST

The University has been awarded £508,678 by the Economic and Social Research Council to investigate Chinese people’s perceptions and evaluations of their health system.

Big changes

China has radically transformed its health system over the last 30 years, leading to a change in the Chinese population’s attitudes towards their healthcare. ‘What was a fully publicly funded health system has now been commercialised. It’s brought a lot of money into the health system but it’s also made it very expensive for people,’ explains Jane Duckett, Edward Caird Chair of Politics and principal investigator on the project.

The new healthcare system is also thought to have reduced people’s trust in doctors, but this is the first major academic study to focus on the issue. ‘One of the key things we will look at is whether trust and perceptions of the reformed system’s cost actually affect people’s health seeking behaviour,’ says Professor Duckett.

Understanding perceptions

Glasgow researchers will be working with colleagues at Peking University to conduct a nationally representative social survey in China. Advanced techniques will be used to obtain a sample population that is representative on key demographic and geographical indicators, allowing the team to analyse and generalise about the population’s health care attitudes.

The team will also engage with a range of governmental and non-governmental agencies and potential beneficiaries. There will be workshops in China with Chinese policy makers and economic think tanks that advise the government, and the team will also work with the World Bank’s Office in China, the World Health Organisation, and the UK’s Department for International Development.

Find out more

<< Projects