Background: Unequal geographical distribution of medical care resources and insufficient healthcare coverage have been two long-standing problems with Taiwan's public health system. The implementation of National Health Insurance (NHI) attempted to mitigate the inequality in health care use. This study examines the degree to which Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) has reduced out-of-pocket medical expenditures in households in different regions and varying levels of income.

How the data are interpreted and how data interpretation can lead to quality improvement are the principal concerns of participating hospitals. In light of the success of the indicator series, the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) of Taiwan has proposed participation in the series as being one of the criteria to be reimbursed for quality.

As there appeared to be no data available on Toxocara canis infection in the children of Swaziland, a serological survey of T. canis infection was recently conducted among 92 children aged 3-12 years from rural slums in the low- and middle-veld. A child was considered seropositive if, in western blots based on the excretory-secretory antigens of larval T. canis, his or her serum gave a positive result when diluted 1 : 64. Forty-one (44.6%) of the children were found seropositive. There were no statistically significant differences in seroprevalence between the 49 boys and 43 girls investigated (46.9% v. 41.8%) or between the eight subjects aged 12 years and the 47 aged < or = 5 years (62.5% v. 38.3%); the corresponding odds ratios were 0.81 (95% confidence interval=0.36-1.86; P=0.62) and 2.69 (95% confidence interval=0.57-12.62; P=0.20), respectively. The 66 subjects from the middleveld were, however, significantly more likely to be seropositive than the 26 subjects from the lowveld (54.5% v. 19.2%; odds ratio=5.04, with a 95% confidence interval of 1.70-14.98; P<0.01). It seems likely that T. canis infection is common among the children who live in slums in Swaziland, particularly in the country's middleveld, probably as the result of poor hygiene and poor sanitation.

INTRODUCTION: Whether Enterobius vermicularis (pinworm) infections among preschool children in Taipei City had truly declined was investigated. METHODS: A total of 6,661 preschool children from 28 nurseries were randomly selected from 4 major geographic districts in Taipei City to examine the status of pinworm infection by using adhesive thin cellophane tape swab method. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of pinworm infection was 0.5% (30/6,661). Boys (0.6%; 21/3,524) had higher prevalence than girls (0.3%; 9/3,137) (p=0.06). Southern district (0.6%; 10/1,789) showed insignificantly higher prevalence than Western district (0.2%; 1/606) (p=0.22). CONCLUSIONS: Pinworm screening program remains necessary for some parts of Taipei City.

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