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

Cai, Weiqin; Li, Chengyue; Sun, Mei; Hao, Mo

Three indicators of inequality can be used to measure inequalities in the distribution of public health workers to explain the causes of a country's inequality. The first indicator is the Gini coefficient, the most widely used measure of inequality, although it cannot be disaggregated and therefore cannot explain the sources of inequality. The second indicator is the Theil L index, which is considered to be the most attractive decomposition indicator, as it can be decomposed into two parts, between-groups and within-groups. The third indicator is the Theil T index, which is an entropy index that can be decomposed and that can allow the inclusion of subset geographical units with zero health workers.