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Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics
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Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Health, Well-Being and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2023) | Viewed by 9296

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Lei Si

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The George Institute for Global Health, Sydney, NSW 2042, Australia
Interests: health systems research; health economic evaluation; decision analytic modelling; equity analysis
Dr. Wenbin Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of health management, School of Public Health, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350122, China
Interests: health services research; health technology assessment; health policy analysis and evaluation
Dr. Jian Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dong Fureng Economic and Social Development School, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China
Interests: health economics; health policy; health insurance

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable social development (SSD) is the ultimate goal of any society to support its current and future generations. In 2015, the United Nations General Assembly set up a collection of 17 interlinked global goals, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), designed to be a ‘blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all’. A sustainable society must be a healthy society. Many interventions need to be designed and implemented to achieve this goal. However, policy makers need to identify the interventions with the best value for money under resource constraints. Health economics is a tool to guide the policy decision process, particularly in low and mid-income countries.

Actions have been rolled out worldwide to achieve the SDGs. This special issue aims to understand what health interventions have been implemented? What are the effectiveness? What are the barriers and enablers of successful implementation to achieve a sustainable society? Therefore, we welcome submissions among, but not limited to the following topics:

  • Descriptive analysis of SSD interventions;
  • Health services research;
  • Socioeconomics related equality in health;
  • Health economic evaluation;
  • Barriers to the SSD;
  • Novel eHealth interventions for health promotion;
  • Policy analysis of SSD initiative;
  • Any other topics related to SSD and health economics.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Lei Si
Dr. Wenbin Liu
Dr. Jian Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable development goals
  • social development
  • health economics
  • equity
  • quality of life
  • healthy society

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1234 KiB  
Article
Socioeconomic Inequality and Associated Factors Affecting Health Care Utilization among the Elderly: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study
by Huiru Zhang, Fanli Meng and Mingsheng Chen
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7649; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097649 - 6 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1526
Abstract
Background: Elderly population is particularly vulnerable to socioeconomic disparities. This study assessed inequalities in health care utilization among the elderly in China and identified contributing factors. Methods: This study used data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study survey. A non-linear [...] Read more.
Background: Elderly population is particularly vulnerable to socioeconomic disparities. This study assessed inequalities in health care utilization among the elderly in China and identified contributing factors. Methods: This study used data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study survey. A non-linear probit regression model based on the Andersen Health Care Utilization Model was used to identify determinants of health care utilization among the elderly. The concentration index (CI) and the decomposition of the CI were calculated to evaluate inequalities in health care utilization among the elderly and identify related contributors. Results: The CI for actual and standardized outpatient visits was 0.0889 and 0.0945, respectively, and the corresponding values for inpatient service utilization were 0.1134 and 0.1176, respectively. Factors that contributed to greater inequalities in the utilization of outpatient and inpatient service included income (73.68% for outpatient service; 85.20% for inpatient service), Urban Employee Basic Medical Insurance (UEBMI) (40.75% for outpatient service; 32.03% for inpatient service) and non-agricultural Hukou status (12.63% for outpatient service; 18.73% for inpatient service). New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) (−34.30% for outpatient service; −33.18% for inpatient service) and poor health status (−7.36% for outpatient service; −8.30% for inpatient service) reduced inequalities in outpatient and inpatient utilization. Conclusions: This study found that a key contributor to these inequalities was income, followed by UEBMI coverage. Meanwhile, health care coverage through NRCMS was associated with fewer disparities in health care utilization. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics)
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15 pages, 314 KiB  
Article
Maintaining Quality of Life during the Pandemic: Managing Economic, Social, and Health Well-Being Amid the COVID-19 Crisis of Agricultural Entrepreneurs
by Yi Cheng, Muhammad Nadeem, Shamsheer ul Haq, Kyalisiima Prisca, Babar Aziz, Muhammad Imran and Pomi Shahbaz
Sustainability 2022, 14(23), 15597; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142315597 - 23 Nov 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1622
Abstract
Every sphere of life is being impacted by COVID-19, but little is known about how the pandemic is affecting agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life in developing nations. Therefore, this study examined how COVID-19 affected agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life by utilizing the data [...] Read more.
Every sphere of life is being impacted by COVID-19, but little is known about how the pandemic is affecting agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life in developing nations. Therefore, this study examined how COVID-19 affected agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life by utilizing the data collected from 220 females and 1501 males through multistage purposive and random sampling methods. The dataset was analyzed using ordered logistic regression and principal component analysis. The study results indicated that female agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life was more adversely affected than that of male agricultural entrepreneurs during COVID-19. The findings also showed that male and female agricultural entrepreneurs with a lower socioeconomic status were more severely impacted than male and female agricultural entrepreneurs with a higher socioeconomic status. More female agricultural entrepreneurs compared to males reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health. More than two-thirds of both male and female agricultural entrepreneurs reported that the pandemic had a negative impact on their ability to purchase both food and non-food items. Similar to this, a sizable majority of people of both sexes stated that COVID-19 had an impact on their ability to access medical facilities. The results also showed that COVID-19 had a greater impact on married agricultural entrepreneurs’ quality of life than on single people. Therefore, a paradigm shift in agricultural policy is required for the pandemic response to account for COVID-19’s various effects on different genders and socioeconomic groups in rural areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics)
17 pages, 478 KiB  
Article
Floating Population, Housing Security and Family Medical Economic Risk
by Tao Li, Yi-Tong Zhang, He-Wen Zhu and Peng-Ju Liu
Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11220; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811220 - 7 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1501
Abstract
With the rapid development of China’s economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the country’s housing security system is constantly improving. To address the housing difficulties experienced by low- and middle-income populations, China has formulated the housing provident fund system and the affordable housing [...] Read more.
With the rapid development of China’s economy and the acceleration of urbanization, the country’s housing security system is constantly improving. To address the housing difficulties experienced by low- and middle-income populations, China has formulated the housing provident fund system and the affordable housing system. However, especially for the floating population, housing and medical security have not resulted in an equalization of services. We thus analyze data from Chinese Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to describe the influence of housing security on the family medical economic risk of the floating population. According to the results, the payment of housing provident fund can effectively reduce the incidence of catastrophic health expenditures. In contrast, per capita financial expenditure on affordable housing will significantly increase family medical economic risk. Heterogeneity tests based on the household register and income levels show that the impacts of housing security vary across populations. In addition, the influence mechanism analysis shows that the impact is mediated through housing mortgage loans. Based on the conclusions drawn, three policy recommendations of optimizing the guarantee function of the housing provident fund system, expanding the coverage of affordable housing policy, and promoting the coordinated development of housing and medical security are proposed. This research not only has theoretical and practical significance for the establishment of the security system for the floating population in China but also provides an effective reference for the development of housing and medical security systems in other countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics)
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16 pages, 1634 KiB  
Article
A Refined Evaluation Analysis of Global Healthcare Accessibility Based on the Healthcare Accessibility Index Model and Coupling Coordination Degree Model
by Zhenyu Sun, Ying Sun, Xueyi Liu, Yixue Tu, Shaofan Chen and Dongfu Qian
Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10280; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610280 - 18 Aug 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1481
Abstract
Healthcare accessibility (HCA) is directly related to the general well-being of citizens, and the HCA index model is widely used in HCA evaluation. However, the evaluation results of the HCA index model are rough and potentially misleading because it cannot measure the coordination [...] Read more.
Healthcare accessibility (HCA) is directly related to the general well-being of citizens, and the HCA index model is widely used in HCA evaluation. However, the evaluation results of the HCA index model are rough and potentially misleading because it cannot measure the coordination of a country’s performance across the various evaluation dimensions. This study aimed to introduce a coupling coordination degree model to remedy this defect of the HCA index model, conduct a more meticulous evaluation for the global HCA development over the past two decades, present a panorama of global HCA current status, and further contribute precise strategies to enhance global HCA development. Combining the HCA index model and the coupling coordination model, we used the Global Health Observatory (GHO) data to evaluate the development levels of HCA in 186 countries across the world from 2000 to 2018. The results showed that, first, global HCA development has shown a slow upward trend over the past two decades. Second, of the selected 60 representative countries in 2018, the HCA in 86.7% of high-income countries belonged to the optimum development type, the HCA in 73.4% of upper-middle-income countries was in the antagonism-coordination stage of the transition development category, and the HCA in 66.7% of low-income and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) was in the inferior and worst development forms. Third, the Spearman’s correlation coefficient between HCA index and HCA coupling coordination degree was 0.787 (p < 0.001). The above results indicate that the dilemma of HCA development in LMICs lies not only in the poor healthcare resources, but also in weak ability to allocate healthcare resources effectively. As the lack of healthcare resources cannot be alleviated in a short time, LMICs ought to prioritize effective healthcare resources allocation, such as developing new basic healthcare kits adapted to low-resource setting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics)
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15 pages, 1445 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Multimorbidities on Catastrophic Health Expenditures among Patients Suffering from Hypertension in China: An Analysis of Nationwide Representative Data
by Yu Fu and Mingsheng Chen
Sustainability 2022, 14(13), 7555; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14137555 - 21 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1443
Abstract
Background: Patients with hypertension are sensitive to multimorbidities (i.e., the existence of ≥2 chronic diseases), and the related treatment can create enormous economic burdens. We sought to examine the distribution of multimorbidities, the prevalence and factors of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), the impact [...] Read more.
Background: Patients with hypertension are sensitive to multimorbidities (i.e., the existence of ≥2 chronic diseases), and the related treatment can create enormous economic burdens. We sought to examine the distribution of multimorbidities, the prevalence and factors of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE), the impact of multimorbidities on CHE, and the variation in this relationship across age groups, work status, and combinations of socioeconomic status and health insurance types. Methods: Socioeconomic-related inequality associated with CHE was estimated by concentration curve and concentration index. We examined the determinants of CHE and the impact of age groups, work status, and combinations of socioeconomic groups and health insurance schemes against the relationship with multimorbidities and CHE using logistic regression. Results: 5693 (83.3%) participants had multimorbidities. In total, 49.8% of families had experienced CHE, and the concentration index was −0.026 (95% confidence interval [CI], −0.032 to −0.020). Multimorbidities were related to the increased odds of CHE (odds ratio [OR], 1.21; 95% CI, 1.18–1.25). The relationship between multimorbidities and CHE persisted across age groups, work status, and combinations of socioeconomic status and health insurance schemes. Conclusions: More than 80% of patients with hypertension had multimorbidities. The protection of health insurance schemes against financial risks is very limited. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Social Development and Health Economics)
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