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Using information collected through semi-structured questionnaires in 483 households, this paper examines the relationships between livelihood risks and livelihood capitals amongst rural farming communities in China's Shiyang River Basin. Based on an index system of livelihood risks (health, environmental, financial, social, information and connectivity risks) and livelihood capitals (human, physical and natural, financial and social capitals), relationships are measured and evaluated through a linear regression model. Results suggest that health risk and social risk have clear negative effects on livelihood capitals. This finding may support evidence-based policies intended to reduce health risk and social risk threats as well as underpinning improvements in rural farmers' capacities to withstand livelihood risk and to enhance well-being.

Background: Due to the multifaceted aspect of child malnutrition, a comprehensive approach, taking social factors into account, has been frequently recommended in health literature. The Alma-Ata declaration explicitly outlined comprehensive primary health care as an approach that addresses the social, economic and political causes of poor health and nutrition.

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The nation-building process of Timor-Leste, the newest nation in Asia, faces significant demographic challenges due to its high population growth, which is the fastest in Asia. The major contributor for this unprecedented growth is the extremely high total fertility rate of Timor-Leste, among the highest in the world. It is of great concern that if the current fertility rate and its implied population growth continue the population of Timor-Leste will double in 17 years. The analysis in this paper clearly shows that the current extremely high dependency ratio will decline only marginally in the next 10 years and this will put tremendous pressure on the government to constantly keep up with the increasing number of children entering school every year. However, as the intrinsic value of human resource development feeds back into the overall society and economy, an adequate public investment in knowledge-producing services at the earliest stages of life and throughout that life has the potential to change the demographic concern of Timor-Leste into a future demographic dividend.