How do policy levers shape the quality of a national health system?

Poor quality of care may have a detrimental effect on access and take-up and can become a serious barrier to the universality of health services. This consideration is of particular interest in view of the fact that health systems in many countries must address a growing public-sector deficit and respond to increasing pressures due to COVID-19 and aging population, among other factors. In line with a rapidly emerging literature, we focus on patient satisfaction as a proxy for quality of health care. Drawing on rich longitudinal and cross-sectional data for Spain and multilevel estimation techniques, we show that in addition to individual level differences, policy levers (such as public health spending and the patient-doctor ratio, in particular) exert a considerable influence on the quality of a health care system. Our results suggest that policymakers seeking to enhance the quality of care should be cautious when compromising the level of health resources, and in particular, health personnel, as a response to economic downturns in a sector that traditionally had insufficient human resources in many countries, which have become even more evident in the light of the current health crisis. Additionally, we provide evidence that the increasing reliance on the private health sector may be indicative of inefficiencies in the public system and/or the existence of features of private insurance which are deemed important by patients.     

The relationship between lifetime health trajectories and socioeconomic attainment in middle age

A large literature demonstrates the direct and indirect influence of health on socioeconomic attainment, and reveals the ways in which health and socioeconomic background simultaneously and dynamically affect opportunities for attainment and mobility. Despite an increasing understanding of the effects of health on social processes, research to date remains limited in its conceptualization and measurement of the temporal dimensions of health, especially in the presence of socioeconomic circumstances that covary with health over time. Guided by life course theory, we use data from the British National Child Development Study, an ongoing panel study of a cohort born in 1958, to examine the association between lifetime health trajectories and socioeconomic attainment in middle age. We apply finite mixture modeling to identify distinct trajectories of health that simultaneously account for timing, duration and stability. Moreover, we employ propensity score weighting models to account for the presence of time-varying socioeconomic factors in estimating the impact of health trajectories. We find that, when poor health is limited to the childhood years, the disadvantage in socioeconomic attainment relative to being continuously healthy is either insignificant or largely explained by time-varying socioeconomic confounders. The socioeconomic impact of continuously deteriorating health over the life course is more persistent, however. Our results suggest that accounting for the timing, duration and stability of poor health throughout both childhood and adulthood is important for understanding how health works to produce social stratification. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of distinguishing between confounding and mediating effects of time-varying socioeconomic circumstances.     

Planning Strategically or by the Book?—Contentious Land Use Planning in South-eastern Finland

The debate on strategic spatial planning highlights the limitations of statutory land use planning in weighing up future options for spatial development, particularly in instances of rapid change. This paper draws on this debate in order to analyse planning institutions and practices in Finland. The case in point is the south-eastern border region where interdependencies with Russia, particularly shopping tourism, have created pressures on land use and led to contentious planning processes between regional and central levels of government. It is argued that, in the absence of cross-border spatial co-ordination, there is a need to establish links between regional land use planning and visions of spatial scenarios in the national context.     

对区域高等教育战略规划的若干思考--基于《加利福尼亚州高等教育总体规划（1960-1975）》的分析

《加利福尼亚州高等教育总体规划（1960—1975）》是区域高等教育战略规划领域的成功范例，规划内容通过州宪法性效力、州法律法规性效力以及行业约定性效力三种形式发挥作用。准确把握关键问题、秉持院校自治理念、深入开展调研等做法值得借鉴。我国区域高等教育机遇与挑战并存，教育规划应当坚持治理理念、以人为本理念和系统论理念，对区域高校定位作出合理预期与安排，引导区域高等教育健康和谐发展。     

Urban cultivation in Accra: an examination of the nature, practices, problems, potentials and urban planning implications

The literature on urban farming in Sub-Saharan African cities reveals that most studies have been conducted in Eastern, Southern and Central African cities. A few have focused on West Africa, including Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, and Cameroon. In Ghana there is a paucity of information on urban farming. The purpose of this paper is to examine the status of urban cultivation in Accra, Ghana's capital, reviewing existing research, and to present new empirical findings on urban cultivation emphasizing on its history, nature, practices, problems, potentials and urban planning implications.     

ERP在钢铁贸易企业的应用研究

以上海宝钢技术经济发展公司为对象,根据公司对提升内部管理及业务流程规范化的要求,研究了公司建立ERP系统的定位及目标,提出应建立以钢材贸易和钢铁产品深加工为主业的ERP体系,实现流通过程中的价值增值.在分析存在的主要问题的基础上,提出了ERP的模式、流程设计及采购业务、库存业务的解决方案.     

制约学校体育实施健康教育的诸因素分析

本文主要对影响学校体育实施健康教育的因素进行了分类研究 ,为学校体育实施健康教育提供科学的参考依据。     

Urban Housing as an Issue of Redistribution through Planning? The Case of Dhaka City

The rapid growth of population, the mushrooming of poor settlements and unplanned urbanization have crucial implications for the efficiency and equity of urban services. The resultant infringements of critical human rights throw into focus the importance of housing as a social policy issue. Urban services are strained in Dhaka city. Urban management has been disrupted as a result of spatial encroachment and environmental degradation. In addition to land scarcity, land speculation and endemic corruption, the high price of land is also a product of the system of land registration. The dearth of valuable urban land, together with delays in urban planning and its implementation, have made the acquisition of land for housing prohibitively expensive for middle and low‐income households. Consequently, the quality of the housing environment is deteriorating. The problem of housing finance is intrinsically linked to its affordability, being currently the prerogative only of the affluent. This article delineates the inherent lack of integrated urban planning, the lacunae within institutions responsible for urban management – and, contextually, the nature of housing as a social policy issue, where reinforced, coordinated planning and administration could ensure distributive benefits even to the poor.     

首创全国普通高校策划学专业

西方的咨询业、策划业不断地向中国国内渗透,促使中国的策划业快速发展。面对越来越大的市场策划需求,三江学院抓住了激烈竞争的机遇,首创了策划学专业。五年来的策划学系形成了一整套的策划学的理论体系、教学体系和教学方法,特别是在理论教学和实践教学有机相结合中取得了最佳教学效果,从而培养出了一大批策划专业人才,得到了社会的认可和广泛好评。     

People and their waste in an emergency context: The case of Monrovia, Liberia

Liberia has gone through civil crisis for over a decade which has resulted in the destruction of infrastructure and disruption of basic services delivery particularly in Monrovia, the capital city. Most of the 1.3 million people living in Monrovia are without adequate environmental sanitation and waste management services which situation poses a serious health risk to the residents. The current waste management service coverage is less than 20% and disposal is by indiscriminate open dumping. In 2003, there were series of outbreaks of cholera epidemics in the city during which time a total of 26,651 cases were reported with many dying.The waste management plan was initiated as an exit strategy of UNICEF following an intervention response programme to assist the Monrovia City Corporation (MCC) whose capacity in this area had been crippled as a result of years of war, through the provision of support in solid waste collection and disposal.The objectives of the plan were to:

(a) Improve waste management services delivery in the city.

(b) Strengthen the ability of the MCC to plan and manage the waste services delivery.

(c) Enhance cooperation of service beneficiaries through comprehensive and effective health education and service promotional campaign.

(d) Enhance revenue generation and community participation through the promotion of private sector and CBOs/NGOs active involvement in the waste management service delivery.

The general methodology adopted for the assignment entailed the following:Desk study and review of existing reports on Water and Environmental Sanitation (WES) in Monrovia and other relevant literature, consultation with stakeholders, site visits and participatory planning which aimed at soliciting the opinions of the various stakeholders involved with the respective components to capture their aspirations and experiences. It also covered collection and analysis of available information and data to facilitate the plan preparation and facilities design.The three-phased strategy (short, medium and long term) covering a period of 10 years (August 2004–December 2014), recommended a combination of technical options for collection based on the pursuit of staged development to allow for the adoption of realistically attainable standards within a framework of continuous and systematic improvements as economic conditions improved and new knowledge gained through practice. The plan sought to blend the capacity within the City Corporation with that of the private sector and NGOs/CBOs to respond to the diverse service demands of the city taking into consideration housing and infrastructural conditions, service costs and cost recovery to ensure sustainability. It also identified sources of financing and allocated financing responsibilities to facilitate effective plan implementation.