Sports and sports facilities development have improved rapidly over the past years in Malaysia. However, such improvements are inadequate compared to the overall development of sports at international level. In recent years sport is getting more and more influential and it will continue to grow in importance, even for developing countries. Recent developments have witnessed the use of sports fa...

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY This study examines urban-rural differences in end-of-life (EOL) quality of care provided to nursing home (NH) residents. DATA AND METHODS We constructed 3 risk-adjusted EOL quality measures (QMs) for long-term decedent residents: in-hospital death, hospice referral before death, and presence of severe pain. We used CY2005-2007 100% Minimum Data Set, Medicare beneficiary ...

OBJECTIVE To determine whether bioethicists are distributed along a rural-to-urban continuum in a way that reflects potential need of those resources as determined by the general population, hospital facilities and hospital beds. METHODS US members of a large, multidisciplinary professional society, the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities (ASBH), the US population, hospital facilitie...

BACKGROUND Frequent and long-term commuting is a requirement for dialysis patients. Accessibility thus affects their quality of lives. In this paper, a new model for accessibility measurement is proposed in which both geographic distance and facility capacity are taken into account. Simulation of closure of rural facilities and that of capacity transfer between urban and rural facilities are co...

BACKGROUND The U.S. population is aging at an unprecedented rate, resulting in an increased demand for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and long-term care. Residents of these facilities are at a high risk for pneumococcal disease or severe influenza-related illnesses and death. For these reasons, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services use influenza and pneumococcal vaccination rates as...

Current literatures on urban parks and green spaces showed that people’s preference for visiting urban parks in various group users is different. People visit parks for various motives and activities, leading to several patterns of park usability. However, the patterns in urban park use in majority of Iran cities are not yet known. This study presented the preference for activity in urban...

BACKGROUND With regards to equity, the objective for health care systems is "equal access for equal needs". We examined associations of predisposing, enabling and need factors with health facility utilization in areas with high HIV prevalence and few people being aware of their HIV status. METHODS The data is from a population-based survey among adults aged 15years or older conducted in 2003....

BACKGROUND Shortages of health workers are obstacles to utilising global health initiative (GHI) funds effectively in Africa. This paper reports and analyses two countries' health workforce responses during a period of large increases in GHI funds. METHODS Health facility record reviews were conducted in 52 facilities in Malawi and 39 facilities in Zambia in 2006/07 and 2008; quarterly totals...

The author investigated the status of barrier-free facilities of urban rail transit station in China. Due to the physical factors, the senior and disability population fail to utilize urban traffic facilities, like ordinary persons. Also, children, women of pregnancy, and those who have mobility difficulties, and those who bear heavy loads are also not able to conveniently use urban traffic fac...

BACKGROUND Previous studies on vaccination coverage in developing countries focus on individual- and community-level barriers to routine vaccination mostly in rural settings. This paper examines health system barriers to childhood immunisation in urban Kampala Uganda. METHODS Mixed methods were employed with a survey among child caretakers, 9 focus group discussions (FGDs), and 9 key informan...