BackgroundMigrant workers are a unique phenomenon in the process of China's economic transformation. The household registration system classifies them as temporary residents in cities, putting them in a vulnerable state with an unfair share of urban infrastructure and social public welfare. The amount of pressure inflicted by migrant workers in Beijing, as one of the major migration destinations, is currently at a threshold. This study was designed to assess the factors associated with health-seeking behavior and to explore feasible solutions to the obstacles migrant workers in China faced with when accessing health-care.MethodsA sample of 2,478 migrant workers in Beijing was chosen by the multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method. A structured questionnaire survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews between investigators and subjects. The multilevel methodology (MLM) was used to demonstrate the independent effects of the explanatory variables on health seeking behavior in migrant workers.ResultsThe medical visitation rate of migrant workers within the past two weeks was 4.8%, which only accounted for 36.4% of those who were ill. Nearly one-third of the migrant workers chose self-medication (33.3%) or no measures (30.3%) while ill within the past two weeks. 19.7% of the sick migrants who should have been hospitalized failed to receive medical treatment within the past year. According to self-reported reasons, the high cost of health service was a significant obstacle to health-care access for 40.5% of the migrant workers who became sick. However, 94.0% of the migrant workers didn't have any insurance coverage in Beijing. The multilevel model analysis indicates that health-seeking behavior among migrants is significantly associated with their insurance coverage. Meanwhile, such factors as household monthly income per capita and working hours per day also affect the medical visitation rate of the migrant workers in Beijing.ConclusionThis study assesses the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on the migrant workers' decision to seek health care services when they fall ill, and it also indicates that the current health service system discourages migrant workers from seeking appropriate care of good quality. Relevant policies of public medical insurance and assistance program should be vigorously implemented for providing affordable health care services to the migrants. Feasible measures need to be taken to reduce the health risks associated with current hygiene practices and equity should be assured in access to health care services among migrant workers.

5th International Symposium on Social Science and Management Innovation (SSMI 2023) was held in Macao, China during April 29-30, 2023. This conference was sponsored by Research Center of Engineering and Science, and was attended by academicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, government agencies and policy-makers, postgraduates from China and all over the world. The aim of the conference is to provide an interactive platform for the academicians, R & D organizations, industries, innovators, entrepreneurs, government agencies and policy-makers etc., from both China and abroad to exchange ideas on recent researches and advances in the domain of Social Science and Management Innovation with its prospective application in the various interdisciplinary domains of engineering. This two-day conference is being organized in technical association with Research Center of Engineering and Science and will include invited keynote talks and oral paper presentations from both academia and industry to ignite our young minds, to initiate them in the field of meaningful research and thereby enrich their existing knowledge. SSMI 2023 has received 109 manuscripts. And more than 50 submissions have been accepted by our reviewers and the Press. By submitting a paper to SSMI 2023, the authors agreed to the review process and understand that papers undergo a peer-review process. Manuscripts would be reviewed by appropriately qualified experts in the field selected by the Conference Committee, who would give detailed comments and-if the submission gets accepted-the authors submitted a revised version that considers this feedback. All papers were reviewed using a double-blind review process: authors declare their names and affiliations in the manuscript for the reviewers to see, but reviewers did not know each other's identities, nor did the authors receive information about who has reviewed their manuscript. The Committees invested great efforts in reviewing the papers submitted to the conference and organizing the sessions to enable the participants to gain maximum benefit. With our warmest regards, SSMI 2023 Conference Committees