Social Justice: A public health perspective from China and Asia

In the past three decades, many Asian countries have been through a period of rapid economic growth. In particular, the economic reforms that have transformed China since 1978 have had profound repercussions for the nation's public health system. Much of the population has been left uninsured and facing high financial risk from inadequate care, with deep divisions between the urban and rural population, posing a huge challenge to health equity and social justice. This lecture will explore the relationship between economic development, public health and health disparity, using China and other Asian countries as examples.

This lecture will highlight the importance of social justice in public health and improving the overall population health in developing countries. These include: (1) health risk and access to care issues among unregistered urban population (i.e. migrants) who are more likely to live in crowded, unsanitary conditions and face higher risks of contracting communicable diseases; (2) challenges to the traditional system of family care for the elderly, as younger generations migrate to the cities and the remaining rural population ages, and other anomies amongst elder population as a whole; (3) spread of sexually transmitted infections and human immunodeficiency virus, low recognition of mental health, and the stigma associated with these illnesses; and (4) issues related to gender inequity, which may or may not be directly associated with policies such as China's one-child policy. Implications on what the government could do to address these issues and improve health equity will also be discussed.