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

The results demonstrated that inequality differences in China's PHW allocation between regions and between provinces are small, but inequality differences between counties at the provincial or municipal level are larger. This suggests that a regional inequality elimination strategy is not applicable and that China needs a PHW configuration strategy focusing on provinces and municipalities. This is consistent with China's current economic and social development. As the Chinese government recently indicated, imbalances in intra-regional development have become a social contradiction in China [12] . For example, most of China's provinces have national and provincial poverty-stricken counties, even in some developed provinces of eastern regions. According to the latest national poverty-stricken counties list, Guangxi and Hebei province, which belong to the eastern regions, have 22 and 13 national poverty-stricken counties, respectively [28] . Whether it is economic development or resource allocation, within-province differences are greater than between-province differences. At present, China attaches great importance to poverty alleviation. In terms of CDC resource allocation, poverty alleviation policies also need to be formulated, which is part of the national health poverty alleviation strategy. The government must take financial, material, and human resource measures to strengthen the support for CDCs at disadvantaged county-level units and enhance their ability to attract talents.