• Evidence of the impact of ill health

Evidence base on the impact of ill-health on individuals and households

Due to escalating medical costs and lack of insurance coverage, medical spending causes financial hardship for many rural families in China, despite continued economic growth and increasing income in the country as a whole. This paper, published in the Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition, reviews the escalation of medical costs and lack of insurance coverage. It goes on to analyse the impact of poor health on poverty generation and discusses the key implications this case study may have for policy and future studies.

Rural China represents an interesting case. About 70 per cent of the 1.29 billion population live in rural areas and are primarily engaged in the informal sector, particularly agriculture. Thirty years ago, China was the first large nation to establish a community-based insurance system for its rural population. Although there have been numerous reform initiatives aimed at controlling medical inflation, since the inception of market reforms in the early 1980s the rural insurance system has collapsed. Medical expenditure has therefore become a significant source of transient poverty in rural China. [Adapted from author].

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