The assessment of social vulnerability to public health emergency in China

In this paper, social vulnerability to public health emergency is studied in order to analyze the capability to overcome infectious disease emergencies in different regions with distinctive economies. According to the hazards-of-place model of vulnerability, a evaluation model for social vulnerability is developed. Based on the data of 31 regions of China, this paper evaluates social vulnerability of two epidemics emergencies (2003SARS and 2009H1N1 Influenza) the result is shown that social vulnerability is relatively higher in the western than in the middle and eastern regions, and as the key factors to reduce social vulnerability by providing emergency funds, commercial health insurance plays a most important role, followed by social medical insurance, the influence of government finance is the minimum.