PhD Title

Understanding Innovation in China's Rural Health Reform: The Case of the New Co-operative Medical Scheme (NCMS)

Supervisors

Professor Flemming Christiansen, Dr Heather Xiaoquan Zhang and Dr Zang Xiaowei (at WREAC Sheffield)

Research Study

China is in the process of carrying out fundamental restructuring of its healthcare system, once the envy of the developing world, but now highly marketised, and providing uneven and unequal access. Collapse of previous health insurance schemes left a majority without cover or with inadequate cover, paying out of pocket for treatment received, causing delayed or missed treatment, suffering, debt and poverty.

Since the early 2000s, health system reform – including the development of a rural health insurance scheme and rebuilding of grassroots health infrastructure – has become a major focus of national policy and reform. A striking feature of this reform is the degree to which it is decentralised, resulting in a high degree of heterogeneity across local practices and significant use of experimentation in policy design.

My focus is on the New Co-operative Medical Scheme (NCMS), China's flagship rural health insurance programme, and the role localities play in the development of this scheme. Overall, my research aims to examine the interaction of local and central processes of reform in generating effective practices.

Background

I first came to China in 2001 with the Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO), and was posted to a small town in south east Yunnan for two years as a teacher trainer, also working on HIV/AIDS education. I returned to the UK and an MA in Chinese Studies at Leeds in 2003/04. Since then I have worked in HIV/STD outreach work in China and in research / policy analysis positions in Beijing. I started my PhD in 2008.

Email: l.husain@wreac.org