Measuring inequalities in the public health workforce at county-level Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in China

Table 1 Density and inter-county inequality (n = 2712) by region^a for three categories of PHWs in China, 2012^b

Workforce Category		East	Central	West	All Regions
Workforce Category		(n = 865)	(n = 860)	(n = 987)	(n = 2712) ^c
Staff ^d	Number	45,985	47,224	40,616	133,825
	Mean density	0.94	1.05	1.06	1.01
	Min county density	0.01	0.11	0.09	0.01
	Max county density	12.89	17.87	17.03	17.87
	Theil T	0.0553	0.0647	0.0756	0.0657
	Gini	0.2726	0.2964	0.3125	0.2948
Health professionals ^d	Number	36,639	33,922	33,296	103,857
	Mean density	0.75	0.76	0.87	0.79
	Min county density	0.01	0.06	0.63	0.01
	Max county density	12.89	13.66	13.08	13.66
	Theil T	0.0578	0.0686	0.0821	0.0703
	Gini	0.2772	0.3056	0.3263	0.3038
Field epidemiological investigators ^d	Number	18,643	17,938	16,320	52,901
	Mean density	0.38	0.40	0.43	0.40
	Min county density	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
	Max county density	1.78	7.36	8.72	8.72
	Theil T	0.0848	0.1025	0.1414	0.1089
	Gini	0.3385	0.3725	0.4279	0.3788

Abbreviation: PHW, Public health workforce
^a According to the level of economic development, China is divided into eastern, central, and western regions. The eastern region is an economically developed region, including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong, and Hainan, with a total of 11 provinces and independent municipalities; the central region is an economically developed region, including Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan, with a total of 8 provinces. The western region is an economically underdeveloped region, including Inner Mongolia, Chongqing, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, with a total of 12 provinces, autonomous regions, and independent municipalities under the Central Government
^b Data source: National cross-sectional survey of the CDC system for 2012, Division of Disease Control and Prevention, Ministry of Health
^c There was 2852 county-level CDCs in mainland China in 2012, we included 2712 counties for analysis due to some missing data
^d These categories are not discrete, as health professionals are a subset of staff, and field epidemiological investigators are a subset of health professionals

ISSN: 1475-9276