scholarly journals Public Transportation Environment and Medical Choice for Chronic Disease: A Case Study of Gaoyou, China

Author(s):  
Yang Cao ◽  
Feng Zhen ◽  
Hao Wu

Current research on the built environment and medical choice focuses mainly on the construction and optimization of medical service systems from the perspective of supply. There is a lack of in-depth research on medical choice from the perspective of patient demand. Based on the medical choice behaviour of patients with chronic diseases, this article identifies the spatial distribution and heterogeneity characteristics of medical choice and evaluates the balance between medical supply and demand in each block. On this basis, we explored the mechanism of patient preferences for different levels of medical facilities by considering the patient’s socioeconomic background, medical resource evaluation, and other built environment features of the neighbourhood by referring to patient questionnaires. In addition to socioeconomic characteristics, the results show that public transportation convenience, medical accessibility, and medical institution conditions also have significant influences on patient preferences, and the impact on low-income patients is more remarkable. The conclusions of the study provide a reference for the promotion and optimization of the functions of urban medical resources and the guidance of relevant public health policies.

Facilities ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 2-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darja Kobal Grum

Purpose In comparison with the relations between the human and natural environments that have been the central focus of environmental psychology for many years, the interactions between the psychological processes underlying human behaviour and the built environment have only recently regained the interest of researchers. In this paper, the author first discusses the reasons for the slower development of human – built environment relations. Afterwards, the author systematically examines the impact that the research of environmental stress, namely, poor housing and poor neighbourhood quality, had on the contemporary understanding of human – built environment relations. Design/methodology/approach The author focuses on social, biophilic and evidence-based design. The author proposes deeper psychological engagement in correlation with human behaviour, psychological well-being and society. The author highlights the inclusion of psychologists in interdisciplinary research teams addressing the development of sustainable solutions to the issues of residential environments. Findings It has been shown that substandard house quality, high noise, lack of natural light in houses, poorer physical quality of urban neighbourhoods, living in a low-income neighbourhood, etc. are linked to elevated physiological and psychological stress. Despite this evidence, there is still a gap between building designers and building users in modern industrialised societies, which could deepen tenants’ dissatisfaction due to specific behavioural needs and consequently lower their psychological well-being and health risk behaviour. Research limitations/implications These are potential risks of error arising from the use of assumptions, limited samples size and data from the secondary resources. Originality/value The major contributions of this paper are as follows. If the environment is understood as a dynamic, constantly changing and complex system of a wide range of players, the author can discern in this environment a dynamic that is otherwise characteristic of emotional dynamics. Expressed participants’ high satisfaction with residential status does not necessarily generate high expectations regarding real estate factors.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 774-799
Author(s):  
Farzin Charehjoo ◽  
Nassim Hoorijani

The main goal of this research is to evaluate the relationship between the built environment and public health of citizens in four different buffers of Sanandaj, Kurdistan province, Iran. There is a growing body of evidence that links the neighborhood design to public health and argues that the built environment impacts on the public health of people through the weakening or strengthening of sustainable transportation (walking, cycling, and public transportation) and physical activity. Regular physical activity has a significant impact on the health of individuals, and this can be the best way to cope with several diseases. The statistical population of this study includes people between the age of 18 and 65 years in Sanandaj city. The method used to investigate the normality of dependent variables is the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test; the assessment of the resident’s difference of physical activities is conducted through one-way variance; the impact of the built environment on physical activities is assessed through a multivariate regression test, and the effect of physical activity on the health of the individuals is evaluated through a correlation test. This study, by explaining the characteristics of the built environment in four different buffers, has exhibited that the environment supporting physical activity of pedestrians plays a critical role in increasing the amount of physical activity they engage in.


Nano LIFE ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 08 (02) ◽  
pp. 1840001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wangyue Xu ◽  
Xiaojing Zhao ◽  
Lan Wang

In many heavy industrialized countries such as China and India, the impact of air pollution on respiratory health has been headline news in recent years. Among the risk issues examined, exposure to particulate matter (PM) is cited as the prime contributing factor that causes respiratory diseases, yet it is traceable and controllable. In this paper, we report on an empirical study conducted in Shanghai, based on urban spatial determinants as independent variables to investigate its link to occurrence of lung cancer in their neighborhoods. A survey was conducted on a population of 472 lung cancer patients. After reliability and validity tests, only 156 pairs were included in this report. The questionnaire designed for this survey covers 11 outdoor and 6 indoor factors; these include the building density where they live, proximity to pollution sources, volume of traffic nearby, degree of enclosure by surrounding tall buildings, being residential or commercial with reference to their homes, proximity to parks, measured in terms of the plant type, green space per capita, accessibility to public open spaces for outdoor activities and water body; while parameters inside the house cover the age of the house, bedroom sizes, space per occupant, cooling-off time of taking up residency after renovation, humidity and dust inside the houses. Data collected were classified using random forest classification and further refined with Boruta algorithm for feature selection to identify possible correlation between risk of lung cancer to both outdoor and indoor factors of built environment. The results reveal a strong correlation between lung cancer and the environment where they live, so much so that the finding confirms our long-held belief that urban redevelopment could play an important role in reducing the risk of respiratory disease. Since prevention is better than cure, if by design to relocate pollution sources away from residential areas, provision of good public transportation to cut down vehicles on our streets, creation of green spaces to improve airflow pathway to deduce the concentration of PM in the atmosphere in our neighborhoods, we could perhaps reduce or even prevent lung cancer and a range of other respiratory diseases for the residents we served.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhi-jian Wu ◽  
Yanliqing Song ◽  
Hou-lei Wang ◽  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Fang-hui Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Urbanization and aging are global phenomena that offer unique challenges in different countries. A supportive environment plays an important role in addressing the issues of health behavioral change and health promotion (e.g., prevent chronic illnesses, promote mental health) among older adults. With the development of the socio-ecological theoretical model, studies on the impact of supportive environments on physical activity have become popular in the public health field in the EU and US. Meanwhile, very few Chinese studies have examined the relationship between built environment features and older adults’ physical activity at the ecological level. The purpose of the study is to investigate how the factors part of the built environment of Nanjing’s communities also influence leisure time physical activity among the elderly. Methods Using a socio-ecological model as a theoretical framework, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 399 elderly people from 19 communities in Nanjing, China, using a one-on-one questionnaire to collect data, including participants’ perceived built environment and self-reported physical activity. A multivariate linear regression method was used to analyze the factors influencing their recreational physical activity. Results This study found that compared to older people with low average monthly income, the recreational physical activity of the elderly with average monthly incomes between 1001 and 2000 ¥ (β = 23.31, p < 0.001) and 2001 ¥ or more (β = 21.15, p < 0.001) are significantly higher. After controlling for individual covariates, street connectivity (β = 7.34, p = 0.030) and street pavement slope (β = − 7.72, p = 0.020), we found that two out of ten built environment factors indicators influence their physical activity. The importance of each influencing factor ranked from highest to lowest are monthly average income, street pavement slope, and street connectivity. Other factors were not significantly related to recreational physical activity by the elderly. Conclusions Older adults with a high income were more likely to participate in recreational physical activity than those with a low income. In order to positively impact physical activity in older adults and ultimately improve health, policymakers and urban planners need to ensure that street connectivity and street pavement slope are factored into the design and development of the urban environment.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 479-497
Author(s):  
Yang Hu ◽  
Anae Sobhani ◽  
Dick Ettema

The use of electric bikes (e-bikes) is attracting increasing attention from researchers and policymakers as a way to promote sustainable transportation. However, knowledge about the built environment factors that influence e-bike use is lacking. In China, most evidence on e-bikes and travel behavior stems from big cities; there is much less evidence concerning small cities and their adjacent rural areas. Using travel data collected in a small Chinese city (Ganyu), the present research explores the impact of the built environment around residential and work locations on individuals’ commute mode choice, with a particular focus on e-bike use. Consistent with the few previous studies on travel behavior in small Chinese cities, we find that most residents of Ganyu commute only short distances and that the e-bike is the primary mode for their daily commutes. The results of a nested logit model show that e-bike use is more popular among females and low-income groups, and that certain built environment characteristics at the work location promote e-bike use. Moreover, the built environment in different geographical contexts has different influences on commute mode choice. In particular, the presence of city/town roads without bike lanes at work locations promotes e-bike use among rural residents but much less so among urban residents.


Author(s):  
Deepak Baindur ◽  
Pooja Rao

In most urban areas, buses are the most heavily used form of public transportation[1] and more so in Indian cities where buses make up for over 90% of public transport ridership[2]. In the selected Indian metro cities, where formal bus based PT systems are operated by public agencies, they are over-reliant on state support to sustain operations as fare box collections are inadequate in spite of having relatively high ridership. The main challenge for all this is to achieve long term financial sustainability of public transport systems while providing good quality and affordable bus services.This paper investigates internal and external factors that led to the steep and recurrent fare increases in the Bangalore city bus services in the period from 2012–2014 which are operated by Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation. In order to estimate the impact of the recent bus fare increases that have had on the economically weaker sections of the society dependent on these services, the paper presents the results of a random sampling survey study carried out in a central locality in the city that has a large slum area.The key findings throw light on the various ways in which the low income bus users have adapted to reduce their travel costs through changes in travel behavior, travel pattern and modal shifts. The cost of the behavioral changes through lost opportunities and the cost of the modal shifts of the persons earlier favoring public transportation draw attention to the significance of public transport fare policies. Furthermore, the management and operations of the BMTC agency show scope for improvement which can translate into better revenue generation and consequent reduction in fares.


Comunicar ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (35) ◽  
pp. 113-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrique Vergara-Leyton ◽  
Maite Rodríguez-Salineros

This work analyzes the impact of advertising among Chilean youngsters of different socioeconomic background. We aim to identify the relationship that this group establishes with advertising and, in particular, the way they incorporate it in their socialization strategies. We do not address what advertising does to youngsters, but instead what youngsters do with advertising in their practices of appropriation and reception of it. The research design included focus groups of male and female youngsters living in Santiago de Chile between 15 and 24 years of age coming from both high and low-income background. The conclusion of our research is that advertising is assumed by youngsters as a constitutive part of the media offering, which is used both as commercial information and as a cultural referent of new aesthetic values. Furthermore, advertising represents a socializing agent for this group because they incorporate the content of advertising in their exchange with their peers. Finally, this work concludes that advertising represents a sociocultural fact of the first order for the Chilean youth, because it is a central actor of their daily life. El presente trabajo analiza el impacto de la publicidad entre jóvenes chilenos de distintos estratos socioeconómicos, con el objetivo de identificar la relación que establecen con la publicidad y la particular incorporación que hacen de ésta en sus estrategias de socialización. Por lo tanto, no se pretende dar cuenta de lo que la publicidad hace con los jóvenes, sino de lo que los jóvenes hacen con la publicidad a través de sus prácticas de recepción y apropiación. Para esto, se realizó un estudio sobre la base de grupos de discusión a jóvenes de ambos sexos, de edades entre 15 y 24 años provenientes de los niveles socioeconómicos altos y bajos residentes en Santiago de Chile. Los resultados que arrojó el estudio dan cuenta de que la publicidad es asumida como parte constitutiva de la oferta medial, la que es utilizada como información comercial y referente cultural de nuevos valores estéticos. Junto con esto, la publicidad adquiere el carácter de agente de socialización, al incorporar los contenidos de los mensajes publicitarios en las conversaciones con sus pares. Finalmente, este trabajo concluye que la publicidad entre los jóvenes chilenos estudiados, se presenta como una realidad sociocultural de primer orden, en cuanto actor central de su vida cotidiana.


1986 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 639-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
A D H Crook

Since 1979 the main housing policy aim of the Conservative Government in Britain has been to privatise the ownership of housing. The housing programme has included policies to increase the supply and demand for low-cost homeownership and to increase the supply of privated rented housing. The aim of this and three subsequent papers is to describe these programmes and to evaluate their impact. In this, the first paper, it is shown how the Government's attitude to housing differs markedly from that of its predecessors and a description is given of the way the low-cost ownership and private renting programmes fit into the Government's privatisation ideology. The paper continues with a description of each of the initiatives of the low-cost homeownership programme. The next two papers are an examination of the number of sales involved and they draw on published research to evaluate the impact of the sales. It is concluded that, with the exception of the sales of public rented housing, low-cost sales have been limited, but that those who have bought have reaped benefits during a period when other housing and economic policies militated against homeownership. Not all buyers receiving the extra subsidies involved in the programme were in priority social or housing need groups. There is doubt whether the houses involved will be permanently low cost. There is also doubt if the growth of homeownership amongst low-income groups can be unproblematic in relation to their housing and living standards, problems which need state support to be resolved. The fourth paper in the series is an examination of the initiatives in respect of private renting and it is concluded that these, too, had little impact because they were largely irrelevant to the fundamental difficulties facing landlords and tenants. The four papers in this series appear in sequence in successive issues of this journal. Together they show that privatisation policies cannot be achieved without continuing state support and intervention in the form of subsidies and regulation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. e006961
Author(s):  
Nusrat Shafiq ◽  
Avaneesh Kumar Pandey ◽  
Samir Malhotra ◽  
Alison Holmes ◽  
Marc Mendelson ◽  
...  

The lack of access to safe and effective antimicrobials for human populations is a threat to global health security and a contributor to the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The increasingly common shortages of antimicrobials are an additional threat to the emergence of AMR. While the threat of such drug shortages is most acutely experienced in low-income and middle-income settings, their consequences impact the quality and effectiveness of antimicrobials worldwide. Furthermore, there is a need for robustly conducted studies examining the impact of these increasingly prevalent shortages on patient outcomes and on the emergence and spread of AMR. In this review, we have mapped common drivers for antimicrobial shortages and propose strategies for rethinking the regulation, supply and pricing of antimicrobials to secure their sustainable access across diverse healthcare systems and to help minimise the unintended consequences of weak and ineffective supply chains. Greater government involvement in antimicrobial manufacture and supply is essential to ensure no one is left behind. Dedicated demand systems need to be developed for antimicrobials which take into consideration evolving AMR patterns, burden of diseases, pandemic events and supply and demand issues and facilitate implementation of strategies to address them. Interventions, ranging from advocacy and forecasting to public–private collaborations, new economic models and international consortia working across countries and supply chains, will help assure access to safe and effective antimicrobials to all populations around the globe and ensure that shortages no longer contribute to AMR.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (24) ◽  
pp. 10382 ◽  
Author(s):  
Apantri Peungnumsai ◽  
Hiroyuki Miyazaki ◽  
Apichon Witayangkurn ◽  
Sohee Minsun Kim

Public transport service has been promoted to reduce the problems of traffic congestion and environmental impacts due to car dependency. Several public transportation modes are available in Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) such as buses, heavy rails, vans, boats, taxis, and trains while in some areas have fewer modes of public transport available. The disparity of public transport service negatively impacts social equity. This study aims to identify the gaps between public transport supply and demand and to demonstrate introduced indicators to assess the public transport performance incorporating transport capacity and equilibrium access aspects. Supply index was used to evaluate the level of service, and the demand index was applied to estimate travel needs. Furthermore, the Lorenz curves and the Gini coefficients were used to measure the equity of public transport. The results highlight that more than half of the BMR population is living in low-supply high-demand areas for public transportation. Moreover, the equitable access analysis has identified that the high-income population has better access to public transport than the low-income population. The results suggest that public transport gaps and equity indicate the inclusiveness of public transportation, as well as to the areas where to improve the public transport service. Thus, the methodology used in this study can be applied to another city or region similar to BMR.


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