Health
-

Join us for the fall Health Policy Forum

 

Uphill Battle Health Care Costs

 

Featuring Assemblymember Jim Wood

and

Professor Liran Einav of Stanford University.

 

U.S. Health care spending will approach $5 trillion dollars this year, and regardless of the outcome of the election, managing this staggering cost will be a priority for policymakers and the public. Meanwhile, private equity is increasingly a player in health care finance, which could bring risks as well as opportunities. This policy forum brings together two leaders who have shaped health care financing debates in elected office and in academic research, respectively. Please join us for a lively, high stakes discussion, featuring Assemblymember Jim Wood and Professor Liran Einav of Stanford University.

Space is limited. Lunch will be served to guests on the way out of the event.

 
 
(The Clark Center Auditorium is located downstairs below the Clark Center Courtyard, accessible by the courtyard staircase or by the elevators in the East wing lobby.)
 

Clark Center Auditorium
318 Discovery Walk
Stanford School of Medicine

 

Date Label
Paragraphs

Protecting the lives of children in Gaza and other conflicts requires changes to the rules of engagement and global responses to all conflicts affecting civilian populations, argue Zulfiqar Bhutta, Georgia Dominguez, and Paul Wise.

All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Journal Publisher
BMJ
Authors
Zulfiqar A. Bhutta
Georgia B. Dominguez
Paul H. Wise
Number
386:e081515
News Type
News
Date
Paragraphs
2024 SCCEI Summer Study Program group photo at Peking University.

In 2024, SCCEI launched its inaugural Summer Study Program, marking the center’s first intensive field excursion in China with Stanford undergraduate students. To gain a deeper understanding of China, program participants traveled across urban and rural China, embarking on field visits focusing on a wide cross-section of issue areas, including education, healthcare, retail technology, and manufacturing.

Under the guidance of SCCEI’s faculty directors Hongbin Li and Scott Rozelle, program participants explored the key issues, challenges, and opportunities that China faces today. Sixteen students participated in this year’s program and hailed from multidisciplinary backgrounds, including economics, international relations, electrical engineering and computer science. Each student exhibited a passion for gaining a nuanced understanding of China and its role on the global stage as the world’s second largest economy.  

On June 24, the student cohort gathered in Shanghai for the program’s kickoff. While in Shanghai, students toured the store and warehouse of the innovative grocery chain model, Freshippo. Next, students learned about cutting-edge environmental initiatives and spoke directly with young professionals at Ant Finance. The Shanghai leg of the trip also featured a tour of the Luckin Coffee factory, which is the largest roastary in Asia, and a networking dinner with local Stanford alumni.

“It was incredible talking to people in very high positions of power in these digital companies that we took tours of, for example, the Ant group or even some of the manufacturing companies we went to...that the core thesis of their drive for profit, it's underpinned by, ‘we need to be environmentally friendly.’” Arshia Mehta, a management science and engineering major going into consulting, reflected on these visits. 

It was incredible talking to people in very high positions of power in these digital companies that we took tours of.
Arshia Mehta

From Shanghai, students traveled to Deqing, a prosperous rural county in the Yangtze river delta region, where they explored a local health clinic and a pearl farm responsible for a sizable portion of global pearl production. From Deqing, students traveled to the nearby township of Tongxiang, where they dove into China’s dynamic manufacturing sector through informative conversations with factory personnel and tours of a conveyor belt factory and fiber glass company. 

The program cohort then traveled to Xi’an, where they had the opportunity to marvel at the Terracotta Warriors and explore the city’s Muslim Quarter. From urban Xi’an, students rode a bus through tunnels and over mountains towards the rural county of Ningshan, where they visited a local parenting center, rural agricultural communities, and local hospitals. Students also visited local households where they conversed with villagers and families to learn more about rural life in Ningshan.

“Everybody wanted their children to go to college, everybody wanted to see a better future and how to help for that future,” said first year political science major Garrett Molloy, “that reminds me – no matter how distant we seem politically, people are actually very similar.”

Finally, after traveling overnight on a sleeper train, students arrived in Beijing. While in China’s capital, the cohort toured the newly operational Xiaomi EV factory, engaged with students from Tsinghua University High School and Peking University, and spoke directly with the country’s stock market regulators. Students also joined the 4th of July celebration hosted by the U.S. Embassy, where they were greeted by the U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.

Reflecting on her conversation with the Ambassador, Amaya Marion, a junior studying international relations, said, “This trip makes me more certain that I do want to do something in the future with U.S.-China relations.”

The student cohort also had ample opportunity to explore China’s culture and history throughout the program. They visited a paleolithic archaeological site, learned to make traditional Chinese rice cakes, practiced the art of Chinese calligraphy, and visited the Zhujiajiao Water Town. The cohort also explored traditional indigo tye-dyeing practices and cloisonné, an ancient technique for decorating metalwork with colored enamel material.

This is a really remarkable opportunity to see parts of China that otherwise wouldn't be accessible to me.
Stella Meier

Students not only gained new insights from the cultural and business visits, they also learned from one another. Stella Meier, Stanford junior studying international relations, remarked, “this is a really remarkable opportunity to see parts of China that otherwise wouldn't be accessible to me.”

This trip has altered my perception in a way that's constructive, in a way that's helping me think more critically about the information that's being fed to me.
Rahul Ajmera

Having experienced urban and rural China firsthand over the course of two weeks, students walked away with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of China’s economy and people that, according to one student, “fundamentally reshaped my global perspective.” To continue facilitating transformative student exchanges with China, planning for SCCEI’s second annual Summer Program is already well underway.
 



Watch the Program Highlights 



Visit the program page for more program details and future program announcements.


 

Read More

Shipping containers at a loading dock
News

Decoding China’s Economic Slowdown: A Roundtable Discussion

The Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions and Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis co-organized a closed-door roundtable on China's recent economic slowdown and produced summary report of the discussion.
cover link Decoding China’s Economic Slowdown: A Roundtable Discussion
Craig Allen speaks at SCCEI 2024 conference
News

Silicon Showdown: Craig Allen Unpacks the Competition for Technology Leadership between the U.S. and China

Craig Allen, the President of the U.S.-China Business Council, spoke on the evolving dynamics of technological leadership between the U.S. and China and their implications for the rest of the world.
cover link Silicon Showdown: Craig Allen Unpacks the Competition for Technology Leadership between the U.S. and China
Peking University scenic view with tower.
News

Track 2 Diplomacy Effort on U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange Publishes Final Report

The newly released report explains the benefits of U.S.-China scholarly cooperation to the two societies and the world at large, identifies the obstacles to greater exchanges, and outlines practical strategies for overcoming these challenges.
cover link Track 2 Diplomacy Effort on U.S.-China Scholarly Exchange Publishes Final Report
All News button
1
Subtitle

Under the guidance of SCCEI’s faculty directors, 16 students traveled across urban and rural China, embarking on field visits including education, healthcare, retail technology, and manufacturing to gain a deeper understanding of China’s economy.

Date Label
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Subtitle

Background
Comorbidity in mental disorders is prevalent among adolescents, with evidence suggesting a general psychopathology factor (“p” factor) that reflects shared mechanisms across different disorders. However, the association between the “p” factor and protective factors remains understudied. The current study aimed to explore the “p” factor, and its associations with psycho-social functioning, in Chinese adolescents.

Methods
2052 students, aged 9–17, were recruited from primary and secondary schools in Shanghai, China. Multiple rating scales were used to assess psychological symptoms and psycho-social functioning. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify the fit of models involving different psychopathology domains such as externalizing, internalizing, and the “p” factor. Subsequently, structural equation models were used to explore associations between the extracted factors and psycho-social functioning, including emotion regulation, mindful attention awareness, self-esteem, self-efficacy, resilience, and perceived support.

Results
The bi-factor model demonstrated a good fit, with a “p” factor accounting for 46 % of symptom variation, indicating that the psychological symptoms of Chinese adolescents could be explained by internalizing, externalizing, and the “p” factor. Psychologically, a higher “p” was positively correlated with emotion suppression and negatively correlated with mindful attention awareness, emotion reappraisal, self-esteem, and resilience. Socially, a higher “p” was associated with decreased perceived support.

Limitations
Only common symptoms were included as this study was conducted at school. Furthermore, the cross-sectional design limited our ability to investigate causal relationships.

Conclusions
A “p” factor exists among Chinese adolescents. Individuals with higher “p” factor levels were prone to experience lower levels of psycho-social functions.

Journal Publisher
Journal of Affective Disorders
Authors
Yuqing Cai
Xinshu She
Manpreet Singh
Huan Wang
Huan Wang
Min Wang
Cody Abbey
Scott Rozelle
Scott Rozelle
Lian Tong
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Subtitle

Purpose
China’s rapid urbanization has been associated with increased mental health challenges, especially in rural-to-urban migrant children. This study evaluates the effects of mindfulness and life-skills (LS) training on emotional regulation and anxiety symptoms from a randomized controlled trial aimed at improving the mental health of Chinese migrant children.

Methods
Two intervention arms—mindfulness training (MT) and MT plus LS mentorship (MT + LS)—were compared to a waitlist control group of 368 migrant children aged 9–17 years. Volunteers were trained to deliver interventions to 285 migrant children in small groups of 15 for eight weeks weekly. Social integration varied: migrant children mixed with local children at public schools were considered highly integrated, those in migrant-only classrooms at public schools had intermediate levels of integration, and children in private migrant schools had low integration. Emotion regulation and anxiety symptoms were assessed preintervention, postintervention, and three months postintervention.

Results
Postintervention and compared to the control group, children with high social integration in the MT arm showed increased cognitive reappraisal ability (p < .05) but higher physical anxiety (p < .01). Children with high social integration in the MT + LS arm had lower anxiety symptoms of harm avoidance (p < .01) and physical anxiety (p < .05). Children with low social integration in the MT + LS arm showed lower cognitive reappraisal (p < .01) and poorer overall emotion regulation abilities (p < .01). Three months later, children with intermediate integration in the MT + LS arm had lower separation anxiety (p < .05) and harm avoidance anxiety (p < .05). No other groups showed significant improvements in emotion regulation or reducing in anxiety symptoms three months postintervention.

Discussion
Mindfulness and LS training may benefit Chinese migrant children who have higher levels of social integration but increase anxiety in those with lower social integration. Future research should consider the sociocultural context in which a treatment is implemented.

Journal Publisher
Journal of Adolescent Health
Authors
Luwan Lan
Wanqing Liu
Chen Liu
Huan Wang
Huan Wang
Min Wang
Cody Abbey
Manpreet Singh
Scott Rozelle
Scott Rozelle
Xinshu She
Lian Tong
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Subtitle

Background
Mental health problems among children at preschool age are a common issue across the world. As shown in literature, a caregiver’s parenting style can play a critical role in child development. This study aims to examine the associations between a caregiver’s parenting style and the mental health problems (or not) of their child when he/she is at preschool age in rural China.

Methods
Participants were children, aged 49 to 65 months, and their primary caregivers. The primary caregivers of the sample children completed the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire, Short Version, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and a questionnaire that elicited their socio-demographic characteristics. The level of cognitive development of each sample child was assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition. Pearson correlation analysis, linear regression analysis, and multivariable regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

Results
The prevalence of mental health problems among sample children at preschool age was high (31.6%). If a caregiver practices an authoritative parenting style, it was found to be negatively associated with the mental health problems of their child. In contrast, a caregiver’s authoritarian parenting style was positively associated with the mental health problems of their child. Compared to those in a subgroup of primary caregivers that used a combination of low authoritative and low authoritarian parenting style, primary caregivers that used a combination of high authoritarian and low authoritative or a combination of high authoritative and high authoritarian were found to have positive association with child health problems. A number of demographic characteristics were found to be associated with the adoption of different parenting styles.

Conclusion
Different parenting styles (including authoritative, authoritarian, and combination of authoritative and authoritarian) of the sample caregivers had different associations with the mental health problems of the sample children. Parenting programs that aim to improve the parenting styles (favoring authoritative parenting styles) should be promoted in an effort to improve the status of child mental health in rural China.

Journal Publisher
BMC Psychiatry
Authors
Lei Wang
Jing Tian
Scott Rozelle
Scott Rozelle
0
Brian and Jennifer Endowed Chair in Public Health, and Professor in Community Health Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley
Research Affiliate, Rural Education Action Program
liahaskinfernald80.jpg
Ph.D.

Dr. Lia Fernald, PhD, MBA, has been working in the field of public health for over 20 years focusing specifically on infants and children living in poverty, with the overarching goal of improving lives of vulnerable children through systemic, strategic, and effective interventions. Dr. Fernald has written almost 200 papers using rigorous methodological approaches to design and examine integrated interventions to address inequalities, health disparities and child development outcomes. She is a global expert on the effects of community mobilization, conditional cash transfer programs, and nutrition programs on infant, child, and family health and developmental outcomes. For a complete list of publications click here. 
 

Date Label
0
Clinical Professor, Stanford Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
huiqitong.jpg
Ph.D.
Director, Mindfulness Program, Stanford Center for Integrative Medicine
Faculty Affiliate at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions
Date Label
0
Lazear-Liang Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford Graduate School of Business
hanmo_yang.jpg
PhD

Hanmo's research fields include labor and health economics, development economics, and population studies, with a particular focus on China's fertility, healthcare, and elderly care systems and policies. She primarily conducts empirical research to explore the principles of how various interventions affect caregiving practices, fertility behaviors, and other health or economic outcomes by utilizing data from surveys and hospital records. In 2022, Hanmo received her Ph.D. in economics from Peking University. Building on her doctoral work on health and economic development, she broadened her research to include aging and health systems as a postdoctoral scholar at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health from 2022 to 2023.

Date Label
All Publications button
1
Publication Type
Journal Articles
Publication Date
Subtitle

Objective To investigate factors that differentiate elderly adults in rural China who accept free vision screening and cataract surgery from those who could benefit from vision care but refuse it when offered.

Design We conducted a population-based, cross-sectional study between October and December 2016. Logistic regression models were used to examine the predictors of accepting free vision screening and cataract surgery.

Setting Rural communities in Handan, China.

Participants Adults aged 50 years or older, with presenting visual acuity ≤6/18 in the better seeing eye, suspected by examining ophthalmologist to be due to cataract.

Results Among 613 persons with cataract identified on a population basis, 596 (97.2%) completed the household survey (mean (SD) age, 71.5 (10.0) years; 79.8% female). A total of 214 persons (35.9%) refused participation, while 382 (64.1%) took part in the vision screening. A total of 193 (50.5%) participants were found eligible for surgery, while 189 (49.5%) were not. Among 99 randomly selected participants who were offered immediate free surgery, surgery was accepted by 77 participants (77.8%) and refused by 22 (22.2%). In the multivariate model, being engaged in income-generating activities (p<0.01), self-reported better physical capacity (p<0.001) and having had a recent physical examination (p=0.01) were significantly associated with acceptance of vision screening. The only variable significantly associated with acceptance of surgery was presenting visual acuity, with better vision inversely associated with acceptance of surgery (p<0.05) models.

Conclusion Our results suggest that refusal of basic eye examinations may be at least as important a determinant of low surgical rates in rural China as lack of acceptance of surgery itself.

Journal Publisher
BMJ Open
Authors
Xiaochen Ma
Jie Hao
Catherine Jan
Yue Wan
Yuan Xie
Chengfang Liu
Yaojiang Shi
Ailian Hu
Kai Cao
Nathan Congdon
Scott Rozelle
Scott Rozelle
Zhe Dong
Ningli Wang
Subscribe to Health