The unprecedented economic growth and structural changes in the Chinese population present new challenges and opportunities for population and health research. Three critical challenges that China faces today are complex and interdependent: rapid and unruly urbanisation driven by migration from rural areas to cities, growth, distribution and wellbeing of elderly population in both rural areas and cities, and the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Today little more than one-half of the Chinese population live in big cities or in large urban areas and this will increase to three-fourth by the middle of this century. By 2050, one in two persons will be aged 50 years and over. This implies the categorical shift in population towards older ages along with a sufficiently large representation of young adults particularly young men. Yet another challenge is the rising middle-class population, currently estimated to be over 800 million people, with excess disposable income, changing lifestyles, diet and consumption. Consequently, modern health risks and conditions including obesity, diabetes and hypertension, which already exist in both rich and the poor including the migrant populations, are predicted to increase significantly over the next decade or so. Stroke, ischemic heart diseases, chronic pulmonary diseases and cancers have already become the leading causes of death across China. Alongside, the risk behaviours of young people remain a challenge including those related to sexual and reproductive health. On the other hand, health problems attributed to high air and water pollution and those related to climate change as well as those from emerging and re-emerging Zoonotic influenza viruses continue to threaten the health and livelihood of people in China. To summarise, the current and future changes in population age-sex structures will be critical in determining the health future burden of non-communicable and communicable diseases in China. The Population and Health theme addresses these challenges in an interdisciplinary context, in close collaboration with partner institutions in China. The members of population and health theme of the China Research Centre are affiliated to the Centre for Global Health, Population, Poverty, Policy, and the newly established Global Health Research Institute at the University of Southampton.
INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS IN CHINA
- China Population and Development Research Centre, National Health and Family Planning Commission
- Center for Public Health Research, Nanjing University
- Institute of Population Research, Peking University
Theme Leads
Sabu Padmadas
Professor Sabu S Padmadas is Professor of Demography and Global Health within Social Sciences: Social Statistics & Demography at the University of Southampton.
His primary research interests are in the field of demography, epidemiology and public health. Specific areas include: contraceptive dynamics, reproductive and child health, nutrition (women and children), population projections, life course epidemiology and population health policies.
He is involved in the monitoring and evaluation of a large-scale reproductive health and family planning programme of the UNFPA in China (with James Brown). We completed evaluation of the Fourth (1998–2002) and Fifth Country programmes (2003–2005) and the evaluation of Sixth Country Programme (2006–2010) is currently in progress. The project is based in the Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute. We work together with the colleagues from the China Population Development Research Centre of the National Population and Family Planning Commission and the National Centre for Women and Children’s Health, Chinese Centre for Disease Control within the Ministry of Health of the PR Government of China.
He is also on the Editorial Board of Journal of BioSocial Science and the member of ESRC Peer Review College.
Projects
Olga MASLOVSKAYA (2007-2011) Measuring HIV awareness and knowledge: Analyses of cross-sectional surveys with a focus on China (degree awarded in 2011)
Qin MIN (2012-2016) Evolution of family planning policy and its impact on population change in China (under-progress)
Saffron BRUNSKILL (2014-2017) Global Sex ratios and demographic implications in Asia with a special focus on China (under-progress)
Chloe HARVEY (2015-2018) Breastfeeding and child health outcomes in China (under-progress)
MAJOR RESEARCH PROJECTS
Evaluation of the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth rounds of UNFPA Country Programme on Reproductive Health and Family Planning in China funded by the UNFPA and initially by the UK Department for International Development (Sabu Padmadas, James Brown jointly with Li Bohua and team from the China Population and Development Research Center of the then National Population and Family Planning Commission and Wu Julin and team from the National Center for Women and Children’s Health, Chinese CDC of the then Ministry of Health and the United Nations Population Fund, 2003-2013)
Developing public health strategies to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS among the economic migrants of China funded by UK Department for International Development & British Council Development Partnership in Higher Education programme (Sabu Padmadas, James Brown jointly with Zhiwei Wu, Center for Public Health Research, Nanjing University, 2007-2010)
Coping with the Urban Environment? Gender Disadvantage, Social Inequalities and Wellbeing of Economic Migrants in China funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council Pathfinder Programme on Collaborative Analysis of Microdata Resources (Sabu Padmadas, James Brown, Nyovani Madise, Jane Falkingham jointly with Li Bohua, Qin Min of the China Population and Development Research Center, Zheng Zhenzhen from the Institute of Population and Labor Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and Zhiwei Wu of the Center for Public Health Research, Nanjing University, 2011-2012)
Left behind? Assessing the impact of internal labour migration on intergenerational support, health and income: the cases of China and South Africa funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council Pathfinder Programme on Collaborative Analysis of Microdata Resources (Jane Falkingham, Maria Evandrou, Athina Vlachantoni, Sabu Padmadas, Jackie Wahba, Lucy Jordan, Victoria Hosegood with Zhu Ling, Cai Fang, Du Yang of the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Mark Collinson of the Agin Court, University of Witwatersrand).
Publications
Sabu S. Padmadas (2016): Two-child policy in China: Rhetoric versus reality, Annals of Human Biology, DOI: 10.1080/03014460.2016.1177113
Qin, Min, Brown James J, Padmadas, Sabu S., Li Bohua., Jianan, Qi and Falkingham, Jane (2015) Gender inequalities in employment and wage-earning among internal labour migrants in Chinese cities (revise and resubmit in Demographic Research)
Nutbeam, Don, Padmadas, Sabu S., Maslovskaya, Olga and Wu, Zhiwei (2015) A health promotion logic model to review progress in HIV prevention in China. Health Promotion International, 30, (2), 270-280.
Zheng, N., Guo, Yangping, Padmadas, Sabu S., Wang, B. and Wu, Zhiwei (2014) The increase of sexually transmitted infections calls for simultaneous preventive intervention for more effectively containing HIV epidemics in China. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 121, supplement 5, 35-44.
Maslovskaya, Olga, Brown, James J., Smith, Peter W.F. and Padmadas, Sabu S. (2014) HIV awareness in China among women of reproductive age (1997–2005): a decomposition analysis. Journal of Biosocial Science, 46, (2), 178-198.
Brown, James J., Li, Bohua and Padmadas, Sabu S. (2010) A multilevel analysis of the effects of a reproductive health programme that encouraged informed choice of contraceptive method rather than use of officially preferred methods, China 2003-2005. Population Studies, 64, (2), 105-115.
Sufang, Guo., Padmadas, Sabu S., Fengmin, Zhao., Brown, James J. and Stones, Robert William. (2007) Delivery settings and cesarean rates in China. Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, 85, (10), 755-762.
Padmadas, Sabu S., Li, Bohua. (2005) Contraceptive knowledge and use facts and figures from 2003 baseline survey of UNFPA China RH/FP project. China Population Today, 1, (1003-4595), 8-10.
Stones, Robert William., Padmadas, Sabu S., Sufang, Guo, Brown, James J., Fengmin, Zhao. and Bohua Li, (2006) Dyspareunia, urinary sensory symptoms and incontinence among young Chinese women. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 35, (5), 561-567.
SELECTED RESEARCH REPORTS
CPDRC, NCWCH and University of Southampton (2011) “Quality of Care in Reproductive Health & Family Planning in China: Focus on Young People, Gender and HIV Prevention”, Quantitative Evaluation Report, UNFPA/CHINA Sixth Country Programme 2006‐2010. China Population & Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women and Children Health, Chinese CDC, Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute and Centre for Global Health, Population, Poverty & Policy, University of Southampton, UK.
Baseline Survey Technical Report: Focus on Young People, Gender and HIV/AIDS, UNFPA/CHINA Sixth Country Programme (2006-2010). China Population & Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women and Children Health, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, UK. October 2008, pp 92.
Baseline Survey Report: Focus on Young People, Gender and HIV/AIDS, UNFPA/CHINA Sixth Country Programme (2006-2010). China Population & Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women and Children Health, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, UK. June 2007, pp 90.
UNFPA/CHINA Quality of Care in Reproductive Health/Family Planning Project, Fifth Country Programme, Quantitative Evaluation Report, 2003-05: Key Findings. China Population & Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women and Children Health, Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, UK, September 2006, pp 59.
China UNFPA Reproductive Health / Family Planning Fifth Country Programme, Technical Report. China Population and Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women & Children Health and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, 2004, pp 69.
China UNFPA Reproductive Health / Family Planning Fifth Country Programme. Baseline Survey Report. China Population and Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women & Children Health and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, 2004, pp 95.
China UNFPA Reproductive Health / Family Planning Fourth Country Programme, Impact Survey Report. China Population and Development Research Centre and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, 2003, pp 78.
Reproductive health: Awareness, attitudes and behaviour. Highlights from the quantitative evaluation. Quality of care in reproductive health / family planning project. UNFPA China Fifth Country Programme, 2003-05. China Population and Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women & Children Health and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, September 2006, pp 8.
Contraceptive knowledge and use: Facts and figures from the 2003 baseline survey. China Population and Development Research Centre, National Centre for Women & Children Health and Southampton Statistical Sciences Research Institute, March 2005, pp 5.
Towards client-centred informed contraceptive choice in China: The impact of UNFPA China Reproductive health / family planning country project (CP4) in 32 counties of China. Opportunities and Choices Reproductive Health Research Programme, Fact sheet no. 33, University of Southampton, 2003, pp 2.
Events
6 December 2016: A research symposium on “Understanding population change in Europe and China: Sharing research experiences for policy development”
Time: 1400-1600
Location: 06/1081 (Lecture Theatre B)
This event is scheduled as part of the visit of a delegation from the China Population and Development Research Centre – a think tank affiliated to the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China. The programme is coordinated by the ESRC Centre for Population Change & China Population and Development Research Centre jointly with China Research Centre.
The aim of this mini-symposium is to do a snapshot presentation of some of the current research, share ideas and explore potential opportunities for research collaboration.
Staff & PHD Students
Shibei Ni (Ph.D. Candidate)
Miss Shibei Ni is a postgraduate research student in SSPC (Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology), supervised by Dr Nana Zhang and Professor Sabu Padmadas. Her current research is the two-child policy in China and its potential influences, with a mix method of quantitative and qualitative analysis.