Jennifer Holdaway

Environment and Health Research in China: The State of the Field *

In the context of this symposium, this article reviews social science research in the emerging field of environment and health in China, with a particular focus on the impacts of pollution. It begins with a discussion of the particular nature of China’s environment-related health problems, distinguishing the different challenges presented by diseases of poverty, affluence and transition. It then reviews recent developments in policy and civil society with regard to environment and health, and the extent to which work in the social sciences has advanced our knowledge of these and of state–society interactions. The article concludes with some reflections on the need for and challenges of interdisciplinary and international collaboration in this area.

Mobility and health sector development in China and India.

China and India are both attempting to create comprehensive healthcare systems in the context of rapid but uneven economic growth and rapidly changing burdens of disease. While in each country the referencing of international policies and work experience abroad have been part of this process, research has yet to examine the kind of knowledge that is exchanged or the various actors involved in knowledge circulation. Based on a study of two sub-national contexts, this article focuses on the role Chinese and Indian health professionals who have studied and worked overseas play in introducing ideas and practices about healthcare provision and health education. We found that experience abroad influenced individuals, institutions, and each society differently and with some contradictory effects. International experience clearly contributed to personal growth and led individuals to support the adoption of new institutional practices, such as more egalitarian relations between doctors and patients and between students and teachers. However, the content of what individuals learned overseas and the mechanisms through which this knowledge was introduced back into homeland settings often reinforced rather than ameliorated institutional hierarchies and social inequalities. While the scope of this research was limited, we suggest that more explicit analysis of the role professional migrants play in transferring ideas and practices within the health sector would be valuable for policymakers and funders seeking to support a more productive interaction between local and global knowledge.

Environment and Health in China: The Role of Environmental NGOs in Policy Innovation

The impact of environmental degradation on health in China has become increasingly evident in recent years. The Chinese government has steadily increased its investment in environmental protection and emissions of some pollutants are in decline, but air, water and soil pollution continue to pose serious problems, with worrying implications for human health. A recently published report by the Asian Development Bank and Tsinghua University found that fewer than 1 per cent of the 500 largest cities in China meet the air quality standards recommended by the World Health Organization and that seven of the world’s most polluted cities are located in China.1 Official data show that 40 per cent of the rural population (312 million people) have no access to safe drinking water,2 and as much as 10 per cent of China’s arable land is contaminated to some degree by heavy metal pollution, presenting a serious risk to food safety.3