EQUITY AND THE UTILIZATION OF HEALTH-SERVICES - REPORT OF AN 8-PROVINCE SURVEY IN CHINA

This paper investigates equity with respect to one component of welfar e in China-the provision and use of health services. Based upon a larg e-scale survey of almost 16,000 individuals in eight provinces in Chin a, we examine a sub-sample of working-age adults who have identified t hemselves as injured or ill during the four weeks prior to being inter viewed. We found that, beyond the level of severity of the reported co ndition, very few individual-level factors are related to the use of s ervices when ill or injured. Only gender (female) and employment in st ate-run enterprises are associated with higher patterns of use. These results suggest that China has achieved a very wide distribution of cl inics and other services at the local level, and that they are widely used by those who identify need for them. It is rare to be over half a n hour away by bike from some form of care and the majority of care ap pears to be reasonably inexpensive. This broad availability-of service s contrasts with recent reports from China stressing declining accessi bility, and paints a picture of relatively equal access to health care .