Destitute Areas Research Articles

Rural Revitalization Strategy and Intellectual Precision Poverty Alleviation Based on Agricultural Intellectual Property Rights: Taking Yichang City in the Wuling Mountain Area as an Example

Rural revitalization strategy, precise poverty alleviation and priority poverty alleviation in the destitute areas, are the three important new problems in the “three rural” work and rural poverty alleviation in recent years in China. Wufeng tujia autonomous county, Changyang tujia autonomous county, Zigui county in Yichang city, are located in the “main battlefield” of the national poverty alleviation — the Wuling mountain area. This paper introduces the agricultural intellectual property rights of the three counties' patents related to agriculture, trademarks, geographical indications, agricultural biological genetic resources, traditional knowledge, and new plant varieties. Based on the perspective of traditional knowledge, the paper analyzes the rural revitalization strategy and intellectual precision poverty alleviation, and puts forward ten suggestions.

Typical Poverty Alleviation Models in Southern China and the Enlightenment to Jiangxi Province

With China’s poverty alleviation work at a crucial stage, poverty alleviation is mainly focused on the 14 concentrated destitute areas. In the Southern areas of China, there are numerous populations of poverty, wide range of poverty and the vast scale of poverty, which is a large proportion in the concentrated destitute areas. Among the Southern provinces of China, there are similarities of natural conditions, compatibility in cultural backgrounds and the complementation in economic structures. Therefore, there is the foundation of mutual learning or mutual cooperation in poverty alleviation work in China. This paper analyses the typical mode and experience of the crucial poverty-alleviation from Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces. Furthermore, based on reality situations, this paper puts forward the enlightenment of poverty alleviation to Jiangxi province. That is the poverty relief focus on spiritual power, the necessity of financial poverty relief facilitating industrial poverty relief, sufficient utilization of countryside tourism resources, targeted poverty relief among provinces or regions and emphasis on the role of big data in poverty alleviation, etc.

Research of Anti-poverty System of Polycentric Governance in Northwest Destitute Areas

To accurate solve the problem of poverty of destitute areas is the key of the Chinese nation becoming well-off to achieve the great rejuvenation. To achieve this goal, we need to innovate poor governance model from both the theoretical and practice ways. After analyzed and excavated the traditional Anti-Poverty governance model, we find the shortcomings of it which had paternalistic, government monopoly and alone bear the responsibility of the single-site government. Based on Anti-Poverty governance current situation of destitute areas of Northwest Yunnan ,this article use polycentric governance theory to analysis and propose constructing polycentric collaborative governance systems and implement anti-poverty measures and suggestions that system take the local Government as the main body of Anti-Poverty governance and non-profit organizations, international and local poverty NGOs, community organizations, individuals , various inter-government departments to work together within it. The proposed of polycentric collaborative governance system has helped to enrich the local anti-poverty theory of governance, broaden the horizons of anti-poverty governance model, accelerate the rate of Contiguous destitute areas out of poverty.

Measuring Spatiotemporal Changes of Rural Basic Public Service in Poverty-stricken Area of China

To address the development of rural basic public services (RBPS) among contiguous destitute areas of China, we develop a comprehensive RBPS evaluation methodology to examine RBPS development level of 728 poverty-stricken counties, using geographical information system (GIS) to describe their multiscale and multidimensional spatiotemporal change during 2010–2012; besides, we also try to reveal how RBPS interacts with county economy (CE) by integrating Tapio model and weighted Voronoi circle-layer structure. Our results show that (1) at a multiscale of area–province–county, in spite of the overall low level, RBPS is steadily growing during 2010–2012, along with a positive spatial autocorrelation and an obvious nonequilibrium that is high in east China but low in west; however, the RBPS gaps among the whole counties are gradually narrowing, shifting their development grades from a mostly relative shortage or relatively severe shortage in 2010 to a main state of relatively richness or relatively equilibrium in 2012, (2) from a multidimensional view, the RBPS gaps among most dimensions of different areas are gradually narrowing, except for the dimension of social public safety service that shows a significant regional differentiation among different areas. RBPS in Tibetan areas is the most unequalled and falls into the most obvious heterogeneity, and (3) there exist weak correlations between county-level original RBPS and original CE for each year and each circle layer, while significantly positive correlation is found only between mean RBPS and mean CE for four circle-layer subsets of counties, respectively; overall, RBPS development level lags behind that of CE as a main result of the weak decoupling between them. This study may provide a good understanding of the status, regional differences, and evolution of RBPS in poverty-stricken rural China, and serves as a scientific reference regarding decision-making in both promoting intrarural antipoverty harmonious development and constructing the new countryside of China.

Coupling between ecological vulnerability and economic poverty in contiguous destitute areas, China: Empirical analysis of 714 poverty-stricken counties.

Maintaining the coordinated correlation between ecological environment and economic development is one of the important strategies in the new stage of poverty alleviation and development. Taking 714 poverty-stricken counties in contiguous destitute areas as study areas, this paper designed the ecological vulnerability evaluation indicator system based on the ecological sensitivity-resilience-pressure (SRP) conceptual model, as well as the comprehensive poverty evaluation indicators from the perspective of socioeconomic development, so as to build the coupling model to reveal the coupling between ecological vulnerability and economic poverty. The results showed that Hu-Line could act as a feasible partition label to depict the spatial distribution patterns of ecological vulnerability, economic poverty, as well as their coupling degree in contiguous destitute areas, which should be fully taken into consideration the influence of Hu-Line on the east-west pattern classification of national poverty reduction. In addition, there existed a symbiotic positive correlation between ecological vulnerability and economic poverty, therefore, the strategic significance of ecological and environment protection in poverty-stricken areas should be specifically emphasized to reduce economic poverty by synchronously protecting the ecological environment. Approximately half of the counties involved in the study area were in the coordinated type of recession disorders, where the ecological environment quality and the economic development could not be synchronized.

Using VPI to Measure Poverty-Stricken Villages in China

Revealing the comprehensive poverty levels and spatial diversities of poverty-stricken villages is a prerequisite for “Entire-village Advancement” anti-poverty policy of China. In response, we build a multidimensional poverty assessment model from the perspective of spatial poverty, adopting VPI (village-level poverty index) to examine multiscale and multidimensional situations and characteristics of poverty-stricken villages in rural China, then adopting spatial geostatistics to explore their multidimensional and multiscale spatial point pattern distribution. Further, we also introduce LSE model to examine their poverty types. Our tests show that, Firstly, the validity and reliability of the VPI model can be justified in terms of village-level targeting ratio and policy-coverage ratio. Then, the poverty level of poverty-stricken villages follows a normal-right distribution, presenting an “olive” structure with a shape of “large middle, and small at two ends”, poverty levels and poverty sizes of different counties obviously increasing from east to west, and different classifications of counties also representing different poverty levels. On the other hand, there exists three kinds of multi-scale poverty clusters among different contiguous destitute areas, namely, clustering-randomness-dispersion, randomness-clustering and dispersion/randomness distribution. Villages with poverty type of three-factor dominance account for over 50 % of the total villages, their poverty are mainly caused by harsh geographical environment, disadvantaged production and living conditions, and poor labor forces. This research helps know well about the relationships among different villages from the multiscale and multidimensional views, so as to provide decision basis for optimal development and reorganization of the poverty-stricken villages in rural China, which is of vital practical significance to make overall arrangement of rural development-oriented poverty elimination and to boost new round of precise poverty elimination and new countryside construction.

Coincident polio and Ebola crises expose similar fault lines in the current global health regime.

BackgroundIn 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared two "public health emergencies of international concern", in response to the worldwide polio situation and the Ebola epidemic in West Africa respectively. Both emergencies can be seen as testing moments, challenging the current model of epidemic governance, where two worldviews co-exist: global health security and humanitarian biomedicine.DiscussionThe resurgence of polio and the spread of Ebola in 2014 have not only exposed the weaknesses of national health systems, but also the shortcomings of the current global health regime in dealing with transnational epidemic threats. These shortcomings are of three sorts. Firstly, the global health regime is fragmented and dominated by the domestic security priorities of industrialised nations. Secondly, the WHO has been constrained by constitutional country allegiances, crippling reforms and the limited impact of the (2005) International Health Regulations (IHR) framework. Thirdly, the securitization of infectious diseases and the militarization of humanitarian aid undermine the establishment of credible public health surveillance networks and the capacity to control epidemic threats.SummaryThe securitization of communicable diseases has so far led foreign aid policies to sideline health systems. It has also been the source of ongoing misperceptions over the aims of global health initiatives. With its strict allegiance to Member States, the WHO mandate is problematic, particularly when it comes to controlling epidemic diseases. In this context, humanitarian medical organizations are expected to palliate the absence of public health services in the most destitute areas, particularly in conflict zones. The militarization of humanitarian aid itself threatens this fragile and imperfect equilibrium. None of the reforms announced by the WHO in the wake of the 68th World Health Assembly address these fundamental issues.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13031-015-0058-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Struggle for Equity: An Examination of Surgical Services at Two NGO Hospitals in Rural Haiti.

Health systems must deliver care equitably in order to serve the poor. Both L'Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) and L'Hôpital Bon Sauveur (HBS) have longstanding commitments to provide equitable surgical care in rural Haiti. HAS charges fees that demonstrate a preference for the rural population near the hospital, with free care available for the poorest. HBS does not charge fees. The two hospitals are otherwise similar in surgical capacity and rural location. We retrospectively reviewed operative case-logs at both hospitals from June 1 to Aug 31, 2012. The records were compared by total number of operations, geographic distribution of patients and number of elective operations. Using geography as a proxy for poverty, we analyzed the equity achieved under the financial systems at both hospitals. Patients from the rural service area received 86% of operations at HAS compared to 38% at HBS (p < 0.001). Only 5% of all operations at HAS were performed on patients from outside the service area for elective conditions compared to 47% at HBS (p < 0.001). Within its rural service area, HAS performed fewer operations on patients from the most destitute areas compared to other locations (40.3 vs. 101.3 operations/100,000 population, p < 0.001). Using fees as part of an equity strategy will likely disadvantage the poorest patients, while providing care without fees may encourage patients to travel from urban areas that contain other hospitals. Health systems striving to serve the poor should continually evaluate and seek to improve equity, even within systems that provide free care.

The struggle for equity: an examination of surgical services at two NGO hospitals in rural Haiti

BackgroundHealth systems must deliver care equitably to serve the poor. Both L'Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) and L'Hôpital Bon Sauveur (HBS) have longstanding commitments to provide equitable surgical care in rural Haiti. HAS charges fees that reflect a preference for the rural population near the hospital, with free care available for the poorest. HBS does not charge fees. The two hospitals are otherwise similar in surgical capacity and rural location. Using geography as a proxy for poverty, we analysed the equity achieved under the financial system at both hospitals. MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed operative case-logs for general surgery and orthopaedic cases at both hospitals from June 1, to Aug 31, 2012. The records were compared by total number of operations, geographic distribution of patients, and number of elective operations. The service areas were defined as the governmental administrative units closest to both hospitals. For HAS, we analysed the number of operations performed on patients from the most poor and least poor regions within the service area; similarly detailed geographic information was not available from HBS. Rates were compared with χ2 tests. The Ethics Committees at both hospitals and the Institutional Review Board at Partners Healthcare approved the study. FindingsPatients from the rural service area received 306 operations (86·2%) at HAS compared with 149 (38·1%) at HBS (p<0·0001). Only 16 operations (4·5%) at HAS were performed on patients from outside the service area for elective conditions compared with 179 (47·0%) at HBS (p<0·0001). Within its rural service area, HAS performed fewer operations on patients from the most destitute areas compared with other locations (4·0 operations per 10 000 population vs 10·1 operations per 10 000 population; p<0·0001). InterpretationUse of fees as part of an equity strategy will likely disadvantage the poorest patients, while providing care without fees might encourage patients to travel from urban areas that contain other hospitals. Health systems striving to serve the poor should continually evaluate and seek to improve equity, even within systems that provide free care. FundingNone.

Exclusion of the Koch/Rajbansi Community of the Princely State of Cooch Behar: Exploring Crises and Complexities

Exclusion or marginalisation has generally been defined as the social process whereby something or someone is pushed to the edge of a group and accorded lesser importance. This is predominantly a social phenomenon by which a minority or sub-group is excluded, and their needs or desires ignored. Social exclusion refers to processes in which individuals or entire communities of people are systematically blocked from rights, opportunities and resources. Exclusion or marginalisation of various communities, especially various ethnic groups including the aboriginal communities, is considered to be a product of colonisation and as a result people at the margin lost their land, were forced into destitute areas, lost their sources of income and were excluded from the labour market. Additionally, marginal groups lost their culture and values through forced assimilation and lost their rights in society. In the context of exclusion or marginalisation of the communities, the objective of this paper is to explore the perceived economic and cultural exclusion of the Koch/Rajbansi community in the princely State of Cooch Behar. The Koch/Rajbansis constituted the most pre-dominant section of the local Hindu population in the Princely State of Cooch Behar. They were a socially homogenous community because there was no sub-caste among them. They have their own distinct culture totally different from the Brahmanical culture. The situation changed over the years with gradual political and cultural penetration of the British colonial authority in the Princely State of Cooch Behar. Consequently as it had happened in other areas of colonial India, a major cultural shift took place in the colonial endeavour to construct ‘the native’. The subverted identity crisis of the royal family of Cooch Behar, which was held by the Koch/Rajbansi populace as their cultural icon outdistanced them from their erstwhile cultural moorings. In this way the Rajbansi mass was culturally marginalised. Together with it the factor of land alienation caused by revenue reforms undertaken by the Cooch Behar government triggering non-Koch/Rajbansi migration in the Cooch Behar State had intensified the process of economic marginalisation of the Koch/Rajbansis. These immigrants got hold of a vast amount of land and gradually established their monopoly over the local administration. Many of the Koch/Rajbansi Jotedars were turned into sharecroppers in the lands that they once owned. Therefore, a complex dichotomous social order was created between the locals and the non-locals on socio-economic, ethnic and cultural grounds.

Collaborative Governance on Public Security in Concentrated Contiguous Destitute Areas: A Case Study of Wuling Mountains Area in China

In 2011, China initiated the strategy of Regional Development and Priority Poverty Alleviation in Concentrated Contiguous Destitute Areas. The vital method as well as the goal of this strategy is to revolutionize current special difficult situation by collaborative development of regional integration and basically realize the goal of building a well-off society in an all-around way synchronizing with the country. The poor condition of public security is the fundamental factor of constricting the development of Chinese contiguous destitute areas, thus leading to its lagged development. Collaborative governance of public security is not only the most basic component of regional integration but also a fundamental requirement of improving the security condition in contiguous areas for the successful implementing of the strategy mentioned above. This paper points out a framework by mainly focusing on Wuling Mountains areas in China. The system consists of conventional and unconventional public security as its content, as well as “the collaboration of public security” and “the cooperation among regional zone” as its structure.

Urban margins in Kuwait and Bahrain: Decay, dispossession and politicization

Gulf cities are portrayed as being in a state of constant development. When areas lag behind in the process, their decay strikes immediately as a false note. This is the case in disaffected centers, populated by foreigners usually living on borrowed time, as well as in some peripheral areas, where nationals or long-term residents live. The later urban neglect, in terms of infrastructure upgrade, has remained less known and studied. This paper fills the gap by developing a comparative analysis between the bidun areas or popular housing in Kuwait and the so-called ‘villages’ in Bahrain (in their older cores). While the rapprochement of these two cases may seem odd at first sight, commonalities exist nevertheless based on the common perception of a stigma attached to the place, a feeling of marginalization and neglect, on the part of the inhabitants, that goes hand in hand with the conviction that the situation results from a deliberate government policy. Through the central notion of ‘urban decay', the paper explores the type of relations people of these degraded areas have with their living environment. In the first case, the bidun see the residential areas where they live as a ‘humiliation’ and at the same time as evidence of their fathers serving the country, in support of their application file for naturalization. In the second case, after agricultural/fishing activities ceased with the employment offered in the oil sector, urbanization by encapsulation and land reclamation completed the deprivation of most villages' idiosyncrasies: the popular meaning of the term drifted and mostly refers to the destitute areas that form the core of Baharna identity and since the 1990s and all the more so since 2011, hotbeds of the rebellion.

Developing Information Technology for Vocational Education in Contiguous Destitute Areas

:Using the Wuling Mountain area as a case study, the authors discuss the significance as well as five problems of developing information technology for vocational education in contiguous destitute areas. Recommendations are provided at the end of the article.

Industry Poverty Alleviation and Development in Continuous Destitute Areas: Based on the Status Analysis of the Wuling Mountains Region

As an effective way of poverty alleviation, the poverty alleviation through industry plays an important role in China’s poverty alleviation and development career. After years of poverty alleviation and development, the industry poverty alleviation in Wuling Mountains has obtained certain achievements, but it still has some problems, such as unreasonable industrial structure, the limit of poverty alleviation’s leading ability and so on. Based on the case study of the Wuling Mountains, this paper analyzes present situation and reasons of the industry poverty alleviation of the region, and puts forward some suggestions for poverty alleviation, such as strengthening regional government coordination, making the special advantage industries bigger and stronger, establishing demonstration zone of industry poverty alleviation, fostering leading enterprises vigorously and so on, which can provide decision support for the government at all levels to innovate the model of poverty alleviation and win the battle for the poverty alleviation in the new period.

The Poverty Alleviation Model of Local Government Inclusive Innovation: A Case Study on Contiguous Poor Regions in China

Due to the natural, historical, ethnic, religious, political, social and other reasons, the destitute areas covering China’s poor 70% , economic growth driven function is not strong, the conventional means of poverty alleviation work slowly, poverty alleviation and development cycle is longer, poverty is still serious. 14 destitute areas now determined have become the main battle field of poverty alleviation in China. Contiguous poor regions have experienced decades of development, the problems of survival, food and clothing of rural residents have been basically solved. The remarkable achievements have been gained in education, health care, public services, and environmental protection. But there are still several critical problems which hinder its development. This paper sums up these problems from micro, meso and macro aspects, and analyzes the reasons of them. This paper builds a theoretical framework to analyze inclusive innovation of poverty alleviate for local government. Inclusive innovation as a new theory aims to get more performance for less cost for more people. Inclusive innovation is to promote economic development results to benefit the majority of society engines, is to promote sustainable economic development and effective way. Inclusive innovation is to make all of the people, especially disadvantaged groups to participate in innovation activities, so that innovations spread to all of the people, to increase people’s opportunities for innovation and creativity, and make everyone benefit from innovation activities. Through the expansion of productive employment, increase poverty-stricken areas of infrastructure and investment in education and human resource development and other means, people can balance sharing opportunities, enhance the ability to escape poverty and be rich.