Editorial Introduction

Season’s greetings! While the world is turning the last page of the year 2011, we are pleased to present you with the latest issue of China Health Review.

In the In Spotlight section of this issue, Dr. Lingling Zhang interviewed Dr. REN Minghui, Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Health (MoH) of the People’s Republic of China. Dr. REN discussed various aspects of the health reforms in China, including critical drivers, key achievements, lessons learned, and areas that need further improvement. Dr. REN suggested more efforts could be made to collect and analyze micro data to support policy and decision-making.

In Topical Review, Dr. Yunwei Gai, Assistant Professor, Babson College, presented a brief introduction to four national health databases in the United States. The article offers insights on health surveillance for Chinese researchers and policymakers.

Research Twitter features ten recent publications on China’s health issues, including cross-regional transfer of tuberculosis among migrant population in China, prenatal care, health insurance coverage, payment reform, tobacco control on campus, lifestyle and socio-demographic factors of overweight and obesity, as well as physical activity and mental health among urban adolescents in China. Wang, Zhang, Yip, and Hsiao documented an experiment in payment reform which reduced some unnecessary care but did not lower total costs. Chen and Jin suggested that the New Cooperative Medical Systems does not affect maternal and child mortality but does improve the school enrollment of six-year-olds. These results point to the need of further analyses on these topics.

Policy Practice and Updates includes six updates centered around hospital reform in China, ranging from the Shanghai Health Care reform, diagnosis-related group based payment strategy in major cities, public hospitals in Shenzhen, to pharmaceutical e-business.

In About CHPAMS, we introduce a relatively new member, Ms. Angela Ni, to our readers. You will also find a recent career update from Dr. Alex Fu and a summary of a recent CHPAMS meeting on elderly care in China in this section

You might note that we have added a new feature to the Review to include bilingual (Chinese and English) abstract and full-text wherever possible.

Wish you a healthy and productive New Year in 2012!