Health Matters

Have you ever felt palpitations, achoking sensation in the chest, laboredbreathing, headaches, dizziness andnumbness, but a medical examinationcomes up with the all clear? You maythink you are sick but in fact you are ina state of sub-health. This is not a causefor alarm for it can be negatedeffectively through timely lifestyleadjustments. However it should not beignored. Statistics show that 80 percent     

Trditional Health Exercises

IN its bid to initiate a nationwidefitness campaign, the Stateimplemented the "National 1-2-1Health Project" in the "Program ofNational Health " plan. This aims toencourage every Chinese citizen tograsp at least two physical exercisetechniques as a basic, effective health-building method. The "1-2-1" program was begun     

Health Maintenance Restaurant

Arestaurant named "Health Maintenance Restaurant" which serves dishes cooked with traditional Chinese medicine recently opened at Xiyuan Hotel in western Beijing. Entering the restaurant, you'll see the god of longevity on the     

Mushrooms and Health

NUMEROUS varieties of edible mushrooms are highly beneficial to health. Mushrooms enhance the mental and physical development of children and are highly beneficial to recovering cancer patients. People have developed an affinity for the taste of mushrooms and have in turn developed numerous recipes for cooking same. Pine mushrooms are commonly found in northeast China. with locals, especially women and children, heading to forests to collect same following periods of rain.     

Health Consultation in China

ONE Sunday morning, I noticed some people gathered at a clearing outside a school in which my family had an apartment. Feeling curious, I joined them to find that some young dentists, wearing their white coats, were offering free consultations for people. They were selling toothbrushes and dental floss at the same time. One of my teeth was bothering me. It always felt odd when I bit something cold. I consulted with a young dentist, who was wearing a pair of glasses. He asked me many questions like when had it begun to hurt, if I felt the pain, how long it had been since I had it filled the previous time. He asked me to open my mouth and checked the tooth carefully. "You should have your     

Health Protection Products Are Hot

FooDS and beverages that are made from natural ingredients and advertised as therapies are sweeping the consumer market. The health protection products I've seen can be divided into five categories. They include: 1. Beverages: tea, haw juice, mineral water; 2. Medicinal liquids: royal jelly, black-boned chicken essence, softshelled turtle essence; 3. Health protection foods: brown rice powder, rice vinegar, asparagus juice, egg-white candy;     

Low Birth Rate and Women's Health

CHINA has achieved remarkable results in birth control since adopting a basic state policy of family planning to control the birth rate and increase the population quality. According to the "1997 Statistic Bulletin for National Economy and Social Development," a document recently issued by the State Statistics Bureau, China maintained a low birth rate of 16.57 per thousand in 1997—a natural population growth of one percent. Women of child-bearing age now average about two births each, a decrease from six in 1970.     

Togetherness—The Health Care Team

Abstract

In order to evaluate the progress of a health service, certain criteria (indices) should be established and monitored. If any health center wishes to compare its situation with others, a valid instrument for measuring morbidity is required, and the criteria must be in conformity with national and/or international standards. This paper details methods of producing health indices from medical diagnoses. It is based on experience in a health service for students. Three systems are offered to cover centers with and without computer facilities: 1) a minimum for student health services; 2) the “minima” requested by the World Health Organization; 3) a classification of conditions of special interest in student health. It is strongly recommended that the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-9) of the World Health Organization be accepted as the local and international basis for these diagnostic categories.

“Epidemic Non-A, Non-B Hepatitis in Nepal: Recovery of a Possible Etiologic Agent and Transmission Studies in Marmosets,” MARK A. KANE, et al. An epidemic of non-A, non-B hepatitis occurred in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, during 1981–1982, with approximately 7.6% of households and 1.4% of individuals affected. Cases occurred preponderantly in the 15- to 34-year-old age group (70%), with most cases (75%) occurring in males. A high mortality rate (21%) occurred in pregnant women admitted to the hospital. No single water source was implicated, but epidemic peaks occurred during monsoon rains, and multiple opportunities for enteric transmission existed. One of eight patient stools examined by immune electron microscopy revealed aggregated, antibody-coated, 27-nm viruslike particles when convalescent serum samples were used as sources of antibody. Inoculation of two chimpanzees and four marmosets with a suspension of this stool resulted in elevated liver enzyme activity in three marmosets. Fecal excretion of 27-nm particles during the acute phase of disease (with temporally coincident antigen activity by radioimmunoassay) was observed in one marmoset, which also developed convalescent antibody against the particles in the original inoculum. (Journal of the American Medical Association 1984;252:3140–3145.)

“High-dose Vitamin C Versus Placebo in the Treatment of Patients with Advanced Cancer who Have Had No Prior Chemotherapy; A Randomized Double-Blind Comparison,” CHARLES G. MOERTEL, et al. It has been claimed that high-dose vitamin C is beneficial in the treatment of patients with advanced cancer, especially patients who have had no prior chemotherapy. In a double-blind study 100 patients with advanced colorectal cancer were randomly assigned to treatment with either high-dose vitamin C (10 g daily) or placebo. Overall, these patients were in very good general condition, with minimal symptoms. None had received any previous treatment with cytotoxic drugs. Vitamin C therapy showed no advantage over placebo therapy with regard to either the interval between the beginning of treatment and disease progression or patient survival. Among patients with measurable disease, none had objective improvement. On the basis of this and our previous randomized study, it can be concluded that high-dose vitamin C therapy is not effective against advanced malignant disease regardless of whether the patient has had any prior chemotherapy. (New England Journal of Medicine 1985;312:137–41.)     

Women and Children's Health in Tibet

AS a doctor in the management of maternity and children's hygiene in the Tibet Autonomous Region for nearly 20 years, I would like to present a brief introduction of the situation of Tibetan women and children's health, as well as the related services. Prior the Liberation in Tibet, this region coveting over 1.2 million square kilometers, had few health care facilities for women and children. Such activities were carried out by three Tibetan medical institutions, a small number of folk doctors of Tibetan medicine, and a few private clinics. Under the feudal serf system in Tibet, women who gave birth were discriminated against because it was considered an obscene act. Women could not give birth in their tent homes, but were instead forced to seek shelter in cow stalls or sheepfolds no matter how severe the weather. Women and children at the time had no rights to health care. Countless women and children died of birthing complications or     

Health Condition of Migrant Women Workers

WITH the deepening of economic reform, an increasingly large surplus labor force is transforming urban areas. They are flocking to areas such as Guangdong Province, which has attracted the highest number of rural migrant workers in the country. In the first six months of 1996, its registered migrant labor force from other provinces reached 5.4 million; in Zhongshan City alone, it numbers more than 400,000, among whom 240,000 are women.     

Children’s Mental Health Providers’ Perceptions of Mental Health Literacy Among Parents and Caregivers

Mental health disorders are prevalent among children, yet many do not receive treatment. Parents and caregivers play a vital role in recognizing mental health disorders in children and accessing treatment. But a substantial number of parents lack essential knowledge of children’s mental health disorders, including risk factors, symptom recognition, and treatment options. Little focus has been given to parents in the children’s mental health literacy literature. The purpose of this article is to begin filling that gap by using a survey to describe the perceptions of child and family mental health providers’ perceptions regarding the amount, accuracy, and origin of mental health literacy in the parents of the children they treat. The impact of those perceptions on the work of providers is also explored. Eighty-seven mental health providers completed a survey to assess their perceptions of parent mental health literacy in the area of children’s mental health. Providers perceived parent mental health literacy as low, inaccurate, and inconsistent. In addition, providers indicated that parents rely on informal sources of support, such as friends and family for information about children’s mental health. Implications for social work researchers, practitioners, and the children and families they serve are discussed.     

Morning Exercises are Good to Your Health

EARLY to rise, many Chinese leave their homes and head for the streets or lanes in twos and threes to open areas by lakes, rivers or woods.Without command or guidance,people take part in morning exercises completely out of their own free wills and keep on it day by day.     

Women's Choice:Smoking or Health?

“Only 7 Percent of womensmoke”said Professor Zhang Yifang,secretary general of the ChineseSmoking and Health Association,“which is low compared to 61 percentof men.Most Chinese women do notsmoke,an advantage that can be usedin promoting their role in the fight to     

Twelve Traditional Chinese Paths to Good Health

THESE 12 traditional Chinese practices were devised by our ancestors to maintain good health and are key to longevity. To bolster your health, try the following: 1. Move your eyes often. Ancient people called this exercise "yunjing" and believed moving the eyes could eliminate cataracts and nebulas and adjust myopia and farsightedness. First move the eyes from left to right and vice versa, then up and down and vice versa, 15 times each direction. Close your eyes tightly for a moment and then open them wide.     

Health Care “As Usual”: The Insertion of Positive Psychology in Canadian Mental Health Discourse

The recent shift to a “positive psychological” approach that emphasizes a “health model,” rather than a “disease model,” in mental health discourses is intended both to reduce the stigma around mental health issues and to enable people to play a role in monitoring their own mental health. As a component of a larger study on access to and utilization of mental health services by immigrant women, and a partial reflection of the current ideological context of mental health policy and practice in Canada, this shift was examined by analyzing the Canadian Mental Health Association's mental health discourse as posted in Web-based text using features of critical discourse analysis. Although considered an improvement over previous approaches by some, the current mental health discourse continues to reflect ideologies that assume a universal psychology of individual mental health. Framing this research with aspects of sociocultural and postcolonial theories, this article seeks to identify the possibilities of this new discourse and expose its limitations in relation to immigrants to Canada.     

Is Managed Mental Health Treatment Psychotherapy?

The corporate takeover of mental health treatment has dramatically affected mental health treatment. Two essential constituents of psychotherapeutic process, the relationship between patient and therapist and the special communicative process associated with a talking treatment, have been significantly compromised. Therapists and patients are being forced to consider whether in the absence of confidentiality, self determination, and a secure treatment partnership managed mental health care can be called psychotherapy. Drawing on several detailed sessions from the managed treatment of a young woman, the writer concludes that the answer is no.     

Protect the Health of Women and Children

CHINA has reached its present standard of maternal and child health by constant effort. Before the founding of New China in 1949, Chinese women's life expectancy was only 37.6 years. A girl born today can expect to live an average of 72 years. Hygienic practices barely existed for mother and children in the early 1950s, said a health worker who remembers that period. Maternal mortality was high as a result of traditional midwifery practices, which often caused childbed fever. Infant     

Does Health Insurance Premium Exemption Policy for Older People Increase Access to Health Care? Evidence from Ghana

Aging in Sub-Saharan Africa causes major challenges for policy makers in social protection. Our study focuses on Ghana, one of the few Sub-Saharan African countries that passed a National Policy on Aging in 2010. Ghana is also one of the first Sub-Saharan African countries that launched a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS; NHIS Act 650, 2003) with the aim to improve access to quality health care for all citizens, and as such can be considered as a means of poverty reduction. Our study assesses whether premium exemption policy under the NHIS that grants non-payments of annual health insurance premiums for older people increases access to health care. We assessed differences in enrollment coverage among four different age groups (18–49, 50–59, 60–69, and 70+). We found higher enrollment for the 70+ and 60–69 age groups. The likelihood of enrollment was 2.7 and 1.7 times higher for the 70+ and 60–69 age groups, respectively. Our results suggest the NHIS exemption policy increases insurance coverage of the aged and their utilization of health care services.