Health service need and demand among left-behind children in rural areas of Ningxia, China

Objective To evaluate health service need and demand among left-behind children in poor rural areas of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,China,and to provide empirical evidence and policy suggestions to improve children's health equity in poor rural areas.Methods A questionnaire survey was conducted among 2 017 children and their parents(1 474) seleted with stratified cluster sampling from Guyuan city of Ningxia to collect information on demography and health need and demand.Results The average education years of the parents of left-behind children were less than that of non-left-behind children and familial per capita annual income of left-behind children was only one-fourth of that in nonleft-behind children.The disease prevalence rates for last 4 weeks in left-behind and non-left-behind children were 34.9% and 30.6% and medical consulting rates of sick children in last 4 weeks were 65.4% and 80.3%,respectively.The ratios of the children who were recommended to be hospitalized but refused to be in hospital were 38.8% for left-behind children and 26.2% for non-left-behind children.Conclusion Left-behind children had more health service needs but received less health service than non-left-behind children in poor rural areas of Ningxia and family financial difficulty and insufficient social support were main factors of the situation.