vi 1 Definitions and Dimensions of Livelihood Diversification 1 1.1 Definitions of diversification: multiplicity and/or change? 1 1.2 Livelihoods in the economy: basic dimensions of livelihood activities 1 2 Structural Transformation and the Non-farm Economy 4 2.1 Industrialisation and urbanisation 4 2.2 Regional growth theory and the rise and fall of the rural non-farm economy 5 2.3 Global str...

How can the academic discipline of rural health position itself to be relevant in a global environment dominated by financial crisis and climate change? This commentary by Rural and Remote Health Australasian regional editors looks beyond the present time of gloom to opportunities for this young academic discipline to flourish and increase in impact. Steps towards solutions for each of these ma...

BACKGROUND In Thailand, the inequitable distribution of doctors between rural and urban areas has a major impact on access to care for those living in rural communities. The rural medical education programme 'Collaborative Project to Increase Rural Doctors (CPIRD)' was implemented in 1994 with the aim of attracting and retaining rural doctors. This study examined the impact of CPIRD in relation...

This article is a comparison of the characteristics of hospitals serving the general population and Medicaid recipients in California and Michigan, using data from Medicaid uniform claims files and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey for 1984. A greater concentration of discharges in a small number of "high Medicaid volume" urban and rural hospitals in each State was observed for Me...

Research suggests that there is some confusion among quality improvement managers about the differences between quality management and traditional quality assurance. This lack of understanding would appear to be the same among rural and urban health staff, although there is a higher percentage of staff engaged in multidisciplinary activities in the rural health services. Education of staff and ...