The findings raise concern that parents' non-standard work schedules and mother's long working hours have negative effects on diet quality of pre-school children. Policy implications include the need for a multifaceted approach to supporting working parents so as to create healthier food environments.
We aimed to provide systemic, empirical evidence on the coverage expansion of primary health care (PHC) linking to good health in low- and middle-income countries. We conducted a pooled, cross-sectional analysis using the 2011 World Health Statistics for World Health Organization Member States at low- and middle-income levels (n = 102). With life expectancy, infant mortality, and under-5 mortality as health indicators, we examined the effect of service coverage rate using variables under 2 domains: health expenditure and PHC (public health provision, primary care access). Our results indicated that after controlling for gross national income per capita, higher total health expenditure as share of gross domestic product was associated with shorter life expectancy (β = -0.99; P = .014), higher infant mortality (β = 1.65; P = .155), and under-5 mortality (β = 4.82; P = .020). Multivariate analysis showed higher coverage of public health services was significantly associated with improved population health. Making public health and primary care services accessible and be used by everyone is the wise means toward improved health.
The implementation of low-cost and practical healthy living practices in families can effectively improve child health, especially that of disadvantaged children.
This study compares the mortality rates of children in Taiwan with selected industrialized countries, and identifies the explanations of cross-national variations. We ranked all comparison countries by infant mortality rate (IMR) and under-five mortality rate (U5MR). Multiple regression models were used to examine the relationship of child mortality with gross domestic product, national health expenditure, public social expenditure, and Gini coefficient. For 2002, the IMR and U5MR in Taiwan were 6 per thousand and 8 per thousand, respectively, both ranking 20th among 21 industrialized countries. In explaining cross-national differentials in child mortality, we found that Gini coefficient, an indicator of income inequality, was positively associated with IMR and U5MR, and that social expenditure was negatively associated with U5MR. Our study shows that prevention of child mortality in Taiwan has not yet reached the highest attainable standard, and underscores the importance of a fairer income distribution and social investment in child health care.
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