Background: Empirical evidence suggests that the uptake of maternal and child health (MCH) services is still low in poor rural areas of China. There is concern that low uptake of MCH services may detrimentally affect child health outcomes. Previous studies have not yet identified the exact nature of the impact that conditional cash transfer (CCT) have on the uptake of MCH services and ultimately, on child health outcomes. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between CCT, uptake of MCH services and health outcomes among children in poor rural areas of western China. Methods: We designated two different sets of comparison villages and households that were used as comparison against which outcomes of the treated households could be assessed. We conducted a large-scale survey of 1,522 households at 75 villages (including 25 treatment and 50 comparison) from nine nationally-designated poverty counties in two provinces of China in 2014. In each village, 21 households were selected based on their eligibility status for the CCT program. Propensity score matching analyses were used to assess the impact of CCT on outcomes in terms of both Intention-to-treat (ITT) and average-treatment-effects-on-the-treated (ATT). Results: Overall, the uptake of MCH services in the sample households were low, especially in terms of post-partum care visit, early breast feeding, exclusive breast feeding, and physical examination of the baby. The uptake of the seven types of MCH services in the CCT treatment villages was significantly higher than that in the comparison villages. Results from both the ITT and ATT analyses showed the CCT program had a positive, although small, impact on the uptake of MCH services and the knowledge of mothers about MCH health issues. Nonetheless, the CCT program had no noticeable effect on child health outcomes. Conclusions: The CCT program generated modest improvements in the uptake of MCH services and mothers’ knowledge of MCH services in poor rural areas of Western China. These improvements, however, did not translate into substantial improvements in child health outcomes for two possible reasons: poor CCT implementation and the low quality of the rural health facilities.

It is very unfortunate thing that children cannot design the environments and settings of their outdoor playing facilities. This suppresses the preferences of children as they are forced to play and interact in the environments designed by the adults (Plummer, 2007). The key objective of this research will be to examine and analyze the role of outdoor activities provided to preschool children and the effectiveness of these activities in grooming the personalities of such children. The research will also uncover the causes behind pre-school children's meager visits to outdoor playing areas due to the busy schedules of their adults. What is the role of outdoor play in children’s learning? What is the quality level of outdoor play provided to young children by early childhood education organizations? What improvements and modifications can be made to ameliorate contemporary outdoor play in the educational sector? What steps or processes can help in boosting the confidence and satisfaction levels of children so that they can enthusiastically take part in the outdoor play? In this research study, these questions are addressed by an analysis of recent research and design suggestions. The results of recent research studies indicate that the importance of outdoor activities including playing and other similar physical engagements is emphasized by the researchers that work on the behaviors and nourishment of early childhood souls. They are of the view that outdoor activities are equally important as indoor activities which usually involve paper reading or board instructions, whereas outdoor activities provide preschool children with abilities to develop their natural behaviors in accordance with their surroundings.

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Objective Chronic diseases can be controlled through effective self-management. The purpose of this study is to explore the regularity of clinical visits and medication adherence of patients with hypertension or diabetes (PDH), and its association with the first experience with care and individual factors in rural Southwestern China.Methods The authors draw on a dataset which comprised of 292 PDH and 122 village clinics selected from 122 villages in 10 counties in the rural areas of Yunnan province. Data was gathered through interviews with these patients and the directors of the village clinics in January 2018. Logistic regression models were performed using STATA 15.0.Results The data shows around 31% of hypertensive and 25% of diabetic patients neither visited physicians nor took medicine regularly during the preceding three months of the interview date. We also documented PDH first experience with care and found that a proportion of them did not initially choose to seek care from health facilities. The logistic regression results indicated that individual characteristics of the PDH, including patient age, health status, and economic level, as well as their first experience with care were significantly associated with their regular healthcare behavior. Moreover, in addition to providing medical services, on average each sample village clinic with around two physicians simultaneously managed 180 hypertensive and 45 diabetic patients.Conclusions Our paper shows how current self-management trends among PDH in the sample area was unsatisfactory, threatening the effective control of hypertension and diabetes in China. Even though healthcare reforms in China have been launched since 2009, this study revealed the need for further reforms in terms of improving self-management. The authors recommend an increase in the quantity and the quality of human resources in the primary healthcare realm in rural China, which should help provide better education and supervision services for self-management.