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Key elements of my plan on editing the article "Women's Health in China":

1. Revise the subtitles of section 1 "Economic condition." 2. Add information under "pre-reform China" on cooperative medical schemes. 3. Expand the section "women's health outcomes": 

 a. expand the “reproductive health” section to include more cultural perspective on how Chinese traditionally care for pregnant and postnatal women and how    
    that contributes/diminishes women’s health conditions. 
 b. add a section on "eating disorders"

After Chinese communist party took over China in 1949, they established the first public healthcare system in China called Cooperative Medical Scheme (CMS), which devotes much attention to meeting the needs of the country’s huge rural population[1]. The CMS was consisted of a three-tier system: barefoot doctors, township health centers, and country hospitals[2]. The implementation of CMS has seen significant improvement in population health in China, including female health[3]. Studies by Mei-yu Yu et al. found that the female Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) declined from 170 per 1000 in 1953 to 136 in 1957, and female average life expectancy at birth rose from 44.8 in 1949 to 67.1 in 1975[4]. Contrary to what Chinese census has manifested, Banister’s studies have shown that female IMR is higher than male IMR in China at least since 1975[5]. Mei Yu-yu et al. believed that such a discrepancy in IMR between female and male could be a result of preference for sons in traditional Chinese ideology, which may cause abandonment, unequal treatment or violence against female infants[6].


While China’s entry to WTO was presumed to further motivate its economic development and improve its market structure, some researchers have worried that joining WTO will further increase China’s labor surplus because over-hired labor in state enterprises[7] may be deemed “inefficient” once China entered global market. Moreover, studies have shown that the workforce in China was made of only 40% women but 60% of those laid off were women, which demonstrated that women are much more vulnerable to these effects than man[8].

Statistics obtained in 2008 have shown that males enjoy higher physical well-being than females. However, it is not addressed if the situation could be related to China's changing economy in any ways[9].



A recent sign that catches increasing attention is the rise in new infections among women compared to men. Recent estimates by the Chinese Ministry of Health and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS shows that the ratio of reported infections went from 5 men to 1 woman during 1995-1997 to 4 men to 1 woman by 2001[10]. During 1999-2008, the proportion of women infected with HIV doubled compared to the previous decade[11]. During 1999-2008, the proportion of women infected with HIV doubled compared to the previous decade[12]. Analysis by Population Reference Bureau attributes such rise primarily to three aspects: physical vulnerabilities of women, soaring sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates in China, and women’s social vulnerability in China[13]. Durin99-2008, the proportion of women infected with HIV doubled compared to the previous decade[14]. Specifically, unprotected sex exposes women to a risk of HIV infection of 2-4 times higher than for men due to the biological structure of women’s vagina[15]. Also, STI rates, as a marker of infection rate of HIV/AIDS, are also on the rise in China for the past few decades, and young women in migration or commercial sex industry are particularly vulnerable to STI.


According to studies by William Parish et al. in 2004, 19% of female respondents in China reported experience of intimate partner violence while 3% of their male counterparts reported such. The study showed that duration of the relationship and low socioeconomic status both have a positive correlation with the occurrence of male-on-female violence, and respondents from inland or Northern China are also more frequently found to experience such violence[16].

Experience of intimate partner violence was found to exert serious adverse impact on women’s physical and mental health. Multi-country studies by Henrica A F M indicated that 19-55% women who experienced intimate partner violence were actually injured by their partner and they are exposed to significantly higher risk of mental illness such as emotional distress[17].

  1. ^ Bluementhal, David; Hsiao, William (2005). "Privitization and Its Discontents: The Evolving Chinese Healthcare System". The New England Journal of Medicine: 1165-1170. doi:10.1056/NEJMhpr051133.
  2. ^ Bluementhal, David; Hsiao, William (2005). "Privitization and Its Discontents: The Evolving Chinese Healthcare System". The New England Journal of Medicine: 1165-1170. doi:10.1056/NEJMhpr051133.
  3. ^ Chen, Xiao-Ming; Hu, Teh-Wei. "The Rise and Decline of the Cooperative Medical System in Rural China". International Journal of Health Services. 23 (4).
  4. ^ Yu, Mei-yu; Sarri, Rosemary (1997). "Women's health status and gender inequality in China". Social Science & Medicine. 45: 1885-1898.
  5. ^ Banister, Judith (1991). China's Changing Population. Stanford University Press.
  6. ^ Yu, Mei-yu; Sarri, Rosemary (1997). "Women's health status and gender inequality in China". Social Science & Medicine. 45: 1885-1898.
  7. ^ Dong, Xiao-Yuan (March 2003). "Soft budget constraints, social burdens, and labor redundancy in China's state industry". Journal of Comparative Economics. 31 (1): 110-133.
  8. ^ Liu, Jieyu. "Gender dynamics and redundancy in urban China". Feminist Economics. 13: 125-158. doi:10.1080/13545700701445322.
  9. ^ Shi, Jing; Liu, Meina; Zhang, Qiuju (2008). "Male and Female Adult Population Health Status in China: A cross-sectional national survey". BMC Public Health. 8 (277). doi:10.1186/1471-2458-8-277.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link)
  10. ^ Thompson, Drew. "China's Growing AIDS Epidemic Increasingly Affects Women". Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  11. ^ Lu, Lin; Manhong, Jia; Ma, Yanling (2 October 2008). "The changing face of HIV in China". Nature. 455.
  12. ^ Lu, Lin; Manhong, Jia; Ma, Yanling (2 October 2008). "The changing face of HIV in China". Nature. 455.
  13. ^ Thompson, Drew. "China's Growing AIDS Epidemic Increasingly Affects Women". Population Reference Bureau. Retrieved 26 November 2017.
  14. ^ Lu, Lin; Manhong, Jia; Ma, Yanling (2 October 2008). "The changing face of HIV in China". Nature. 455.
  15. ^ Wilkinson, David (October 2002). "Nonoxynol-9 spermicide for prevention of vaginally acquired HIV and other sexually transmitted infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials including more than 5000 women". The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 2 (10): 613-617.
  16. ^ Parish, William; Wang, Tianfu; Laumann, Edward (December 2004). "Intimate partner violence in China: National Prevalence, Risk Factors and Associated Health Problems". International Family Planning Perspectives. 30 (4): 174-181.
  17. ^ Henrica A F M, Jansen; Lori, Heise; Charlotte H, Watts (2008). "Intimate partner violence and women's physical and mental health in the WHO multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence: an observational study". The Lancet. 371 (9619): 1165-1172.
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