Study On Health Inequality And Decomposition Between Urban And Rural Residents In Shandong Province

BackgroundHealth is the foundation of human existence and development, the pursuit of health is the common goal of human society. Since the Reform and Opening of China, with the rapid economic and social development, medical technology advances and the gradual improvement of the social security system, Residents’ health status improved significantly, life expectancy increase substantially. However, health inequalities of residents still exist in different regions and different groups of people. Especially the trend of health inequalities leading by the revenue and other socio-economic factors exacerbates.ObjectiveBy analyzing self-reported health-related data between urban and rural residents in Shandong Province, We explore the factors of resident self-reported health inequality and to analyze the source of health inequalities between urban and rural residents on this basis. Discuss the various factors affecting the health of residents unequal contributions, and sort order of importance.Putting forward on targeted policies to reduce health inequality.Data and MethodsData comes from the fifth National Health Services Survey. The fifth National Health Services Survey adopted a multiple stage stratified cluster sampling and a total of 20 counties (cities, districts) about 12000 (nearly 40000 people) were included in this survey. According to the research needs,27599 people were selected. STATA12.0 software was used for statistical analysis and descriptive statistics, chi-square test and Logistic regression methods were adopted for descripting the health status of residents aged 15 and above in Shandong province. Analyze the influencing factors of residents’self-rated health results. Concentration index decomposition method was used to explore the contribution rate of every influencing factor.Results(1) The self-rated health themorbidiry rate was 12.4% in Shandong Province.In urban area,the rate was 11.3% and in rural area the rate was 13.7%.(2) Logistic regression results showed that gender, age, marital status, level of education, occupational status, area of residence, type of toilets, per capita household incomes were the significant factors that affect self-rated health results. In urban areas of Shandong Province.(3) the concentration index of self-rated health was-0.125 and in rural areas the index was-0.287. The concentration curve located above the line of absolute fairness.(4) In urban areas the self-rated health inequalities contribution rates of age, income, education level, type of toilets were 64.492%.26.603%.10.492% In rural areas the contribution rates were 48.394%.13.842%.10.412%.Conclusions and SuggestionsThere were pro-poor inequalities of self-rated health results in Shandong Province. The rural self-rated health inequalities were worse than the urban areas. Income was the first contributors to inequality of self-rated health results. The level of education was the main contributors to inequality of self-rated health results. In urban areas type of toilets was the third contributors to inequality of self-rated health results. In rural areas age was the second contributors to inequality of self-rated health results. Occupation would expand self-rated health inequality in rural areas and narrow the self-rated health inequality in urban areas. Family size and area factors would narrow the self-rated health inequality. According these conclusions, there were some suggestions:transformation of economic development, improve urban and rural incomes, increasing household education level, popularizing health knowledge; promoting coordinate development of urban and rural areas, narrowing the urban-rural gap, accelerate the transforming of the shantytown and villages in the city.