Suchergebnisse

Background: China has the second highest caseload of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the world. In 2009, the Chinese government agreed to draw up a plan for MDR-TB prevention and control in the context of a comprehensive health system reform launched in the same year. Discussion: China is facing high prevalence rates of drug-resistant TB and MDR-TB. MDR-TB disproportionally affects the poor rural population and the highest rates are in less developed regions largely due to interrupted and/or inappropriate TB treatment. Most households with an affected member suffer a heavy financial burden because of a combination of treatment and other related costs. The influential Global Fund programme for MDR-TB control in China provides technical and financial support for MDR-TB diagnosis and treatment. However, this programme has a fixed timeline and cannot provide a long term solution. In 2009, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in cooperation with the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China, started to develop innovative approaches to TB/MDR-TB management and case-based payment mechanisms for treatment, alongside increased health insurance benefits for patients, in order to contain medical costs and reduce financial barriers to treatment. Although these efforts appear to be in the right direction, they may not be sufficient unless (a) domestic sources are mobilized to raise funding for TB/MDR-TB prevention and control and (b) appropriate incentives are given to both health facilities and their care providers. Summary: Along with the on-going Chinese health system reform, sustained government financing and social health protection schemes will be critical to ensure universal access to appropriate TB treatment in order to reduce risk of developing MDR-TB and systematic MDR-TB treatment and management.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), like most strategic communicators, are challenged with breaking through the saturated international media environment as they attempt to influence public opinion. Yet, before strategic communicators can build an agenda, they must get attention from the public. The current study examined how NGOs' network positions in the public Twitter discussion of the global refugee crisis influenced the public engagement NGOs received during two news events. Drawing from network theory and research, we posed two parallel sets of hypotheses. First, we predicted that NGOs with characteristics of "star" network structures will be well-situated in the network to garner attention. Second, we hypothesized that the "village" around an NGO also contributes to capturing attention. The results from our regressions offer evidence to support both hypotheses.