Building networks in rural areas is difficult because of the tough rural environments and low return to the service operators on investment. Rural networking and their applications in education, health, community development, and business development are essential to the daily life for both inhabitants and visitors. They further bring opportunities in job and business which play a key role in d...

OBJECTIVE The paper examines whether out-of-pocket health care expenditure also has regional discrepancies, comparing to the equity between urban and rural areas, and across households. METHOD Sampled data were derived from Urban Household Survey and Rural Household Survey data for 2011/2012 for Anhui Province, and 11049 households were included in this study. The study compared differences i...

BACKGROUND In England, although some studies report better health among rural populations, few have examined social inequalities in health within rural areas and how they compare to inequalities observed in urban settings. The objectives of this study are to examine (i) whether living in rural, in more affluent and in more socially cohesive areas is associated with better mental health; and (ii...

This paper examines the development of sacred structures in rural Czechia (former Czechoslovakia). Sacred structures could be associated with the creation of important symbols and distinctive rural regional identities in Czechia. Rural Czechia is not uniform: it represents several different rural landscapes. This paper considers whether sacred structures support the idea of multiple and fundame...

Background: Pediculosis capitis is a common parasitic infection of children. In this study we assessed the prevalence of head pediculosis among the middle schoolchildren in the urban and rural areas of Fars province, southern Iran.Methods: All middle schoolchildren ages 11-14, in all the urban and rural areas of the province were screened for head lice infestation by examining their hair and sc...

Rapid economic growth in China during the past 25 years has been accompanied by increasing economic inequality. China’s old-age social security system has long been restricted to urban areas, leaving the 70 per cent of the population living in rural areas with little or no coverage. The lack of social security for elderly people in rural areas poses a threat to social stability and raises socia...

BACKGROUND Rural areas in all countries suffer from a shortage of health care professionals. In South Africa, the shortage is particularly marked; some rural areas have a doctor-to-population ratio of 5.5:100 000. Similar patterns apply to other health professionals. Increasing the proportion of rural-origin students in faculties of health sciences has been shown to be one way of addressing suc...

INTRODUCTION Retention of rehabilitation therapists (RTs) in rural areas is a growing problem in rural Australia. Current literature demonstrates that private allied health professionals in general remain longer in rural areas than those working in the public sector. However, government focus to enhance retention has been on those employed in the public sector, offering private practitioners li...

Introduction The scarcity of qualified health workers in rural areas is directly affecting delivery of health services and their quality. Diverse interventions have been instituted by central and state governments to attract health workers to rural areas and to enhance the retention of qualified workers in India. However the reasons for not willing to remain in rural and remote areas are still ...