Investigation of Health Service Demand and Utilization of Rural Residents in China

Objective To investigate the health service demand and utilization of rural residents in China.Methods The relevant information was collected through household survey conducted in 1,661 rural families.Indicators for health service demand and utilization of rural residents were analyzed.Results The two-week prevalence rate among investigated rural residents was 17.4% and had significant differences among people with different characteristics.The two-week visit rate and hospitalization rate were 16.4% and 9.3% respectively,both higher than the average level of rural areas of China.The non-treatment rate of two-week illness was 17.6%.The non-hospitalization rate for people who should be hospitalized was 33.4%.It was suggested that the utilization of health service by rural residents should be improved.Conclusions The key population of rural health service should be cared and supported more.Reasonable health service demand should be satisfied when the utilization efficiency of health resources is being improved.