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Gaps in the Silk Road: An Analysis of Population Health Disparities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 June 2009

Brenda L. Schuster
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Abstract

The Han and Uyghur populations of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China differ in all major health indicators. In life expectancy, infant mortality, maternal mortality and morbidity Uyghur people are much worse off than Han. Calculations performed with the linear mixed effect multiple regression model show that poor health in Xinjiang is tied directly to Uyghur nationality. Although education, employment and income are also correlated with public health outcomes, they neither cancel out the effect of nationality nor lessen it significantly. Various socio-economic, cultural and historical factors are responsible for the health gap. Preliminary investigations suggest that lack of education, low income, cultural attitudes about gender, group-specific psychological stress, and the socio-economic and demographic changes of the past 60 years could be the major factors.

Type
Research Reports
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 198 , June 2009 , pp. 433 - 441
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 2009

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References

1 A note on terminology: this article follows Chinese terminology and refers to the various ethnic groups in China as “nationalities.” An English term that corresponds to the Chinese min zu, this is the way that the Chinese Communist Party classifies the nation's 56 recognized ethnic groups.

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3 The most recent province-wide estimate is that of 2000. The latest available national figure is 2004, when life expectancy was 70 for men and 74 for women. World Health Organization, Country Pages: China. Retrieved 11 November 2006 from http://www.who.int/countries/chn/en/.

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9 As determined by the 2003 National Health Service Survey, which divided urban areas into large cities and medium/small cities based on population size, and then divided rural areas into four types – Rural 1, Rural 2, Rural 3 and Rural 4 – based on level of development. Rural 1 is the most developed and Rural 4 is the least.

10 No more than primary education for Uyghurs: City 28%, R1 37%, R2 40%, R3 49%, R4 56%; and for Han: City 20%, R1 34%, R2 31%, R3 32%, R4 32%. Less than primary education for Uyghurs: City 6%, R1 7%, R2 7%, R3 8%, R4 14%; and for Han: City 4%, R1 7%, R2 7%, R3 6%, R4 5%.

11 Post-secondary education for Uyghurs: City 21%, R1 5%, R2 4%, R3:3%, R4 2%; and for Han: City 18%, R1 7%, R2 6%, R3 6%, R4 12%.

12 For example, long-term and inter-generational exposure to arsenic, fluorine and a lack of iodine.

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14 Minority nationalities are allowed to have two children in urban areas and three in rural. Han Chinese, however, are only permitted one child in urban areas and two in rural.

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