healthcare Flashcards
what was the state of healthcare in China
very rudimentary many peasants had never seen a trained doctor and preferred ancient herbal cures to heal their illnesses
as many lived on verge of starvation their immune systems where weak so waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery were rife
human manure was main source of fertiliser
how did Mao try to reform healthcare
setting up barefoot doctors
what where barefoot doctors
1 million medical trainees sent to rural areas to provide basic care to the peasants
typically they were trained for 6 months before hand
they promoted simple hygiene, preventative health care and treatment of common diseases
what was the 3 purposes of the barefoot doctors scheme
medical as endemic diseases and high mortality rates were a chronic feature of rural China
Ideologically to expose peasant conditions to prevent young medical intellectuals from slipping back into bourgeois mindsets as they spent half their time working in agriculture and there training was based on practical skills to contributed to the revolution
economic- it was cheap and doctors wages were paid by local village government
was barefoot doctors scheme successful
from health and propaganda yes 90% of villages were involved in the scheme by 1976 and welcomed basic treatment
made basic healthcare a universal right
inspired world health organisation to endorse similar schemes
successes of healthcare reforms
CCP launched patriotic health movements, which sent party members to countryside to inform peasants on how to prevent disease with posters teaching illiterate people how to catch rats, dig deeper wells, and discourage the use of human waste as fertiliser
villages mobilised to drain swamps that bred malaria
smallpox, cholera, plague were eliminated
cases of worse diseases such as tuberculosis and deadly disease carried by snails were reduced
life expectancy rose from 41 years in 1950 to 62 by 1970
infant mortality rates fell
anti drug campaigns reduced sale and use of opium
failures of healthcare reforms
uneven health provision between rural and urban China, western style hospitals only in cities
health care remained inadequate in isolated peasant communities
during GLF communes established medical clinics but impact of famine negated benefits
many doctors attacked during antis campaigns and sent to Laogai
doctors denounced during CR and some cancelled operations and undertook manual labour like cleaning toilets to remove threat of persecution
