User:Sigarg/sandbox

Article Evaluation

He was my baby and I loved him. He's not dead but I had to give him away before midterms :(

I thought the Wikipedia article about the US Census Bureau was direct and informative about the topic. The article was fact based and the information seemed to be supported by several sources, which were cited ( based on the sources I reviewed). Additional information about how effective the US Census is in allocating resources would be useful to the article. The article didn't have a bias and also mentioned briefly, both positive and negative aspects of the US Census, as well as provided viewpoints from both the Census takers and those answering the Census.The article has been edited a number of times and was last edited in February of 2018 to fix dead links to citations but apparently, the article needs additional citations to be better verified. Other edits were mostly for formating.The links work and many citations came straight from the United States Census Bureau and academic journals, which are reliable sources based off the WIkipedia training courses I've taken. It did not look like the sources I checked were biased and the information is up to date, however, more information about what type of questions the US Census asks and how these questions have changed over the years would be beneficial to the article. I also believe that a section about gerrymandering should be added to the article because it is something that is highly dependent on the US Census. In the Talk section of the article, the discussion is polite and civil which is what was taught in the training courses. The topics in the discussion are mostly about whether or not certain topics should be added or deleted from the article, and if someone can further clarify grammar or something specific about a topic in the article.

The article is associated with 4 Wikiprojects, all that are deemed of low importance and rated C class.

How this article differs from what we've discussed in class is that this article talks more about the US Census in a political/ government point of view rather than a tool for demography. In class we discussed the pros and cons of the Census more extensively and how it can under represent an entire group of people and how it can skew information about them. We also talked about how politically motivated the Census information can be and this article mentions that but does not go into detail about it, which I could understand would introduce some bias into an article that should be objective.

Really nice work on the evaluation; As an aside - I'm sorry you had to give away your dog. - Prof Hammad

Health in China

The Health in China article on Wikipedia, based on the Talk section, was deemed a highly important article but also starting class. I noticed that the length of the sections of the article was quite short and that a lot of information is outdated. I am hoping to include up to date information and also update any of the older information if possible. I also want to improve on the health indicators section because it only mentions fertility rate and infant mortality rates from 2005 and I think it would be useful to mention other demographic measures of health from recent years. Additionally, I think it would be helpful to include a section about fertility rates in Mainland China because it can say a lot about the health of a population but also because China has the largest population in the world and acknowledging childbearing policies and things like life expectancy, mortality rates, and other ratios would help describe the health of China. I would also like to add to/add a section about the brief history of Chinese health and its progression and challenges

Here are some sources that can be used in the article

• “Global Reference List of 100 Core Health Indicators, 2015: Metadata.” WHO, World Health Organization, 2015, www.who.int/healthinfo/indicators/2015/metadata/en/.
• Brink, Susan. “What China Can Teach The World About Successful Health Care.” NPR, NPR, 3 Apr. 2015, www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/04/03/397158218/what-china-can-teach-the-world-about-successful-health-care.
• Kan, Haidong. “Environment and Health in China: Challenges and Opportunities.” Environmental Health Perspectives 117.12 (2009): A530–A531. PMC. Web. 15 Mar. 2018.
• “Healthy China: Deepening Health Reform in China.” World Bank, 2016, www.worldbank.org/en/country/china/publication/healthy-china-deepening-health-reform-in-china

Week 11

After reading the Talk page of the article and reconsidering what I said I wanted to contribute to the Health in China article, I think I have further narrowed what I want to contribute to the article. First, someone on the talk page mentions that the health indicator/major indication of health section of the article should become the same section and I agree. What I plan on doing is making it into one section and then updating the health indicators to what they are now (or at least between 2015-2017) and then adding more indicators. I also want to include a subsection about China's one-child/ family policies and how it has affected some of these health indicators. Next I would like to add to the hygiene and sanitation section because these are factors that are associated with serious health concerns in China.

Health indicators

Some measures used to indicate health include Total Fertility Rate, Infant Mortality Rate, Life Expectancy, Crude Birth and Death Rate. As of 2017, China has a Total Fertility Rate of 1.6 children born per woman, an Infant Mortality rate of 10 deaths per 1000 live births, Crude Birth Rate of 13 births per 1000 people and a Death Rate of 7 deaths per 1000 people. Since 1949, China had a huge improvement in population's health. There are health related parameters:

	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2011
Life expectancy	41.6	31.6	62.7	66.1	69.5	72.1	75.0
Total Fertility Rate	5.3	4.3	5.7	2.3	2.5	1.5	1.7
Infant Mortality Rate	195.0	190.0	79.0	47.2	42.2	30.2	12.9
Under 5 Mortality Rate/Child mortality	317.1	309.0	111	61.3	54.0	36.9	14.9
Maternal Mortality Ratio				164.5	88.0	57.5	26.5

• data from www.gapminder.org.

In general, all indices showed improvement except the drop around 1960 due to the failure of the Great Leap Forward, which led to starvation of tens of millions of people. From 1950 to 2012, life expectancy nearly doubled (41.6-75.1). Total Fertility Rate changed from 5.3 to 1.7 which mainly caused by One-child policy. Infant Mortality rate and Under-5 mortality rate went down sharply. Though there is no data from 1963 to 1967, we can see the trend. The gap between IMR and U5MR became smaller and smaller, which indicates health in children has been promoted. Maternal Mortality Ratio isn't showed in the graph due to having insufficient data, but it did go down from 164.5(1980) to 26.5(2011).

One-Child Policy

Created in 1979, under Deng Xiaoping, the One-Child Policy incentivized families to have children later and to only have one child or risk penalization.The One-Child Policy was a program created by the Chinese government as a reaction to the increasing population during the 1970's, that was thought to have negatively impacted China's economic growth. Implementation of the program included rewarding families who followed the program, fining families who resisted the policy, offering birth control/ contraceptives, and in some cases forced abortions. The policy was unevenly implemented throughout China and was easier established in urban areas rather than rural, because of ideals about family size and gender preferences. Prior to the One-Child Policy, the Chinese government had encouraged families to have more children in order to increase the future workforce, however, this promotion made the population of China in the 1970's increase at an alarming rate . Additionally, voluntary programs, involving family planning and contraceptive use, were proposed before the One-Child Policy was fully enforced.

The One-Child Policy was successful in halting China's increasing population and decreased both the birth rate and population, However, the harsh enforcement of the policy created long-term changes to some of China's health indicators. For instance, favoring males over female children lead to many forced abortions, infanticide and abandoned female children which have lead to an imbalance of men to women in China. Additionally, birth rates and rate of natural increase have decreased as a result of the One-Child Policy

Other Consequences of the One-Child Policy include difficulties accessing education and employment as a result of being an undocumented birth

Dependency Ratio

China's dependency ratio is unfavorable because of the policy and it's elderly population (65+) will outgrow the working aged people. The elderly population in China is highly reliant on the working aged people for support and the number of dependents (children 0-14, adults 65+) are increasing compared to the number of working aged people. China's population is aging and the number of children born is less than the replacement rate.

Medical issues in China

Smoking

Main article: Smoking in the People's Republic of China

Smoking related illnesses killed 1.2 million in the People's Republic of China; however, the state tobacco monopoly, the China National Tobacco Corporation, supplies 7 to 10% of government revenues, as of 2011, 600 billion yuan, about 100 billion US dollars.

Sex education, contraception, and women's health

Main article: Women's healthcare in the People's Republic of China

Sex education lags in China due to cultural conservatism. From ancient China to the first half of the 20th century, formal sex education was not taught. Instead, a woman's parents were mostly responsible for her sex education after she is wed. Many Chinese feel that sex education should be limited to biological science. Combined with migration of young unmarried women to the cities, lack of knowledge of contraception has resulted in increasing numbers of abortions by young women.

The Basic Health Services Project piloted strategies to ensure equitable access to China's rural health system; health outcomes for women improved significantly, with substantial declines in maternal mortality due to increased coverage of maternal health services.

SARS

Further information: Progress of the SARS outbreak

Although not identified until later, China’s first case of a new, highly contagious disease, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), occurred in Guangdong in November 2002, and within three months the Ministry of Health reported 300 SARS cases and five deaths in the province. Dr. Jiang Yanyong exposed the level of danger the SARS outbreak posed to China. By May 2003, some 8,000 cases of SARS had been reported worldwide; about 66 percent of the cases and 349 deaths occurred in China alone. By early summer 2003, the SARS epidemic had ceased. A vaccine was developed and first-round testing on human volunteers completed in 2004.

The 2002 SARS in China demonstrated at once the decline of the PRC epidemic reporting system, the deadly consequences of secrecy on health matters and, on the positive side, the ability of the Chinese central government to command a massive mobilization of resources once its attention is focused on one particular issue. Despite the suppression of news regarding the outbreak during the early stages of the epidemic, the outbreak was soon contained and cases of SARS failed to emerge. Obsessive secrecy seriously delayed the isolation of SARS by Chinese scientists. On 18 May 2004, the World Health Organization announced the PRC free of further cases of SARS.

Hepatitis B

Main article: Hepatitis B in China

Work with the CDC has created goals of decelerating the spread of Hepatitis B through Immunization efforts

HIV and AIDS

Main article: HIV/AIDS in the People's Republic of China

The AIDS disaster of Henan in the mid-1990s is estimated to be the largest man-made health catastrophe, affecting five-hundred thousand to one million persons. It was also in Hebei, Anhui, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hubei and Guizhou. HIV was transmitted via blood sale. Blood plasma mixture from several persons was returned so that same person could give blood up to 11 times a day. The disaster was only recognized in 2000 and found out abroad in 2001. Pensioner Gao Yaojie sold her house to deliver data leaflets of HIV to people, while officials tried to prevent her. Some local officials and politicians were involved in the blood sale. In 2003 only 2.6% of Chinese knew that a condom could protect from AIDS.

China blocked by police protest over ineffective drug treatments, cancelled meetings on HIV groups, closured office of the AIDS organization, and detained or put under house arrest prominent AIDS activists such as 2005 Reebok Human Rights Award winner Li Dan, eighty-year-old AIDS activist Dr. Gao Yaojie, and the husband-and-wife HIV activist team of Hu Jia (activist) and Zeng Jinyan.

China, similar to other nations with migrant and socially mobile populations, has experienced increased incidences of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS). By the mid-1980s, some Chinese physicians recognized HIV and AIDS as a serious health threat but considered it to be a "foreign problem". As of mid-1987 only two Chinese citizens had died from AIDS and monitoring of foreigners had begun. Following a 1987 regional World Health Organization meeting, the Chinese government announced it would join the global fight against AIDS, which would involve quarantine inspection of people entering China from abroad, medical supervision of people vulnerable to AIDS, and establishment of AIDS laboratories in coastal cities. Within China, the rapid increase in venereal disease, prostitution and drug addiction, internal migration since the 1980s and poorly supervised plasma collection practices, especially by the Henan provincial authorities, created conditions for a serious outbreak of HIV in the early 1990s.

As of 2005 about 1 million Chinese have been infected with HIV, leading to about 150,000 AIDS deaths. Projections are for about 10 million cases by 2010 if nothing is done. Effective preventive measures have become a priority at the highest levels of the government, but progress is slow. A promising pilot program exists in Gejiu partially funded by international donors.

The amount of cases of people living with HIV/AIDS in China is considered low, according to the CDC, in relation to it's total population, has a high risk population

Tuberculosis

Main article: Tuberculosis in China

Scanning electron micrograph of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in China, which has the world's second largest tuberculosis epidemic (after India). Progress in tuberculosis control was slow during the 1990s. Detection of tuberculosis had stagnated at around 30% of the estimated total of new cases, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis was a major problem. These signs of inadequate tuberculosis control can be linked to a malfunctioning health system. Prevalent smoking aggravates its spread.

Leprosy

Main article: Leprosy in China

Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease, was officially eliminated at the national level in China by 1982, meaning prevalence is lower than 1 in 100,000. There are 3,510 active cases today. Though leprosy has been brought under control in general, the situation in some areas is worsening, according to China’s Ministry of Health.

Mental health

Main article: Mental health in China

100 million Chinese people have mental illnesses that are varying degrees of intensity. Currently, dilemmas such as human rights versus political control, community integration versus community control, diversity versus centrally, huge demand but inadequate services seem to challenge the further development of the mental health service in the PRC. China has 17,000 certified psychologists, which is ten percent of that of other developed countries per capita.

Nutrition

See also: Food safety in the People's Republic of China

In the 2000–2002 period, China had one of the highest per capita caloric intakes in Asia, second only to South Korea and higher than countries such as Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In 2003, daily per capita caloric intake was 2,940 (vegetable products 78%, animal products 22%); 125% of FAO recommended minimum requirement.

Malnutrition among rural children

See also: Zhejiang Xinhua Compassion Education Foundation

China has been developing rapidly for the past 30 years. Though it has uplifted a huge number of people out of poverty, many social issues still remain unsolved. One of them is malnutrition among rural children in China. The problem has diminished but still remains a pertinent national issue. In a survey done in 1998, the stunting rate among children in China was 22 percent and was as high as 46 percent in poor provinces. This shows the huge disparity between urban and rural areas. In 2002, Svedberg found that stunting rate in rural areas of China was 15 percent, reflecting that a substantial number of children still suffer from malnutrition. Another study by Chen shows that malnutrition has dropped from 1990 to 1995 but regional differences are still huge, particularly in rural areas.

In 1996, the Western Consortium for Public Health, a private U.S.-based organization, said 60 percent of the children studied fell drastically below accepted international growth reference values and concluded that the height of Tibetan children was a matter of grave concern. Their data indicated that the children’s shortness was a result of nutritional deficiencies — chronic malnutrition during the first three years of life — rather than the consequence of genetics or altitude, as had been previously suggested.

In a recent report by The Rural Education Action Project on children in rural China, many were found to be suffering from basic health problems. 34% have iron deficiency anaemia and 40 percent are infected with intestinal worms. Many of these children do not have proper or sufficient nutrition. Often, this causes them not being able to fully reap the benefits of education, which can be a ticket out of poverty.

One possible reason for poor nutrition in rural areas is that agricultural produce can fetch a decent price, and thus is often sold rather than kept for personal consumption. Rural families would not consume eggs that their hen lay but will sell it in the market for about 20 yuan per kilogram. The money will then be spent on books or food like instant noodles which lack nutrition value compared to an egg. A girl named Wang Jing in China has a bowl of pork only once every five to six weeks, compared to urban children who have a vast array of food chains to choose from.

A survey conducted by China’s Ministry of Health showed the kind of food consumed by rural households. 30 percent consume meat less than once a month. 23 percent consume rice or egg less than once a month.

In a 2008 Report on Chinese Children Nutrition and Health Conditions, West China still has 7.6 million poor children who were shorter and weigh lesser than urban children. These rural children were also shorter by 4 centimetres and 0.6 kilograms lighter than World Health Organisation standards. It can be concluded that children in West China still lack quality nutrition.

Epidemiological studies

The most comprehensive epidemiological study of nutrition ever conducted was the China-Oxford-Cornell Study on Dietary, Lifestyle and Disease Mortality Characteristics in 65 Rural Chinese Counties, known as the "China Project", which began in 1983. Its findings are discussed in The China Study by T. Colin Campbell.

Iodine deficiency

Main article: Iodine deficiency in China

China has problems in certain western provinces in iodine deficiency.

Avian Influenza A(H7N4) Virus

The first known human contraction of Avian Influenza (bird flu), after contact with live poultry in February 2018, was diagnosed to a woman living in the Jiangsu Province of China.

Hygiene and sanitation

Further information: Water supply and sanitation in the People's Republic of China

Many of China's water sources, including underground sources and rivers, have been heavily polluted because of industry and economic growth. Increased exposure to polluted water and air has created "cancer villages" and further health and environmental problems. A majority of groundwater and shallow wells surveyed in China showed signs of heavy pollution, by measuring nitrate levels which indicate water contamination

By 2002, 92 percent of the urban population and 8 percent of the rural population had access to an improved water supply, and 69 percent of the urban population and 32 percent of the rural population had access to improved sanitation facilities.

Although China has made great efforts of making sanitary facilities and safe water more accessible, there are water and sanitation disparities all over China. As of 2012, sanitary facilities were available to 69% of the Chinese people and 71% of water in China is piped, yet it is still difficult preserving drinking water that is affordable and efficient at a communal level. Additionally, water in both urban and rural areas of China are still vulnerable to disease, pollution, and contamination, with rural areas at higher risk of sewage contamination .

The lack of sanitation in multiple areas of China has affected many students for decades. An absence of modern day toilets and hand washing areas have directly affected students nationwide. The lack of reliable drinking water and sanitation areas, along with many others health issues, has directly led to 1/3 of young students in China having intestinal parasites.

The Patriotic Health Campaign, first started in the 1950s, are campaigns aimed to improve sanitation and hygiene in China. UNICEF also plans to incorporate government programs and policies in order to improve normal health standards in China. The programs and policies are used to teach students about basic hygiene and form campaigns encouraging people to wash their hands with soap instead of water only.