Survey on health status and utilization of health service among native herdsmen in the Karakorum-Kunlun Mountains high altitude border areas

Abstract

Objective To analyze health status and characters of health service demand and utilization among farmers and herdsmen in Kangxiwa and Saitula border areas from the altitude of 3700m to 4300m for offered scientific advices to the health management institutions for optimizing the allocation of health resources.Methods A total of 51 families in the Kangxiwa and Saitula areas in Karakorum-Kunlun Mountains were randomly chosen with stratified sampling method for the family health survey.Physical and biochemical examination were carried out for each herdsman.Results Among the participants,the most disease the two-week medical consultation rate was 1.74％.the hospitalization rate was 0.98％.The two-week medical consultation and hospitalization rate of herds were lower than the national and Xinjiang level for rural area.Herdsmen's doctor poor accessibility and low-income may be the main reasons for the underutilization of health services ;The difficult situation of herdsmen has been initially improved after participating in the new rural cooperative medical care.Conclusion The health status of native herdsmen in Kara Kunlun mountains was poor,and the provision of health services cannot meet the demand for health service of native herdsmen.It's necessary to improve efficiency of utilization of health service and optimize the allocation of health resources. Key words: High altitude; Herdsmen; Health status; Health service