COVID-19 Regulations, Political Institutions, and the Environment

Identifying Health Equity Factors That Influence the Public's Perception of COVID-19 Health Information and Recommendations: A Scoping Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted global public health and public trust in health recommendations. Trust in health information may waver in the context of health inequities. The objective of this scoping review is to map evidence on public perceptions of COVID-19 prevention information using the PROGRESS-Plus health equity framework. We systematically searched the MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PsycInfo, and Embase databases from January 2020 to July 2021. We identified 792 citations and 31 studies published in 15 countries that met all inclusion criteria. The majority (30/31; 96.7%) of the studies used an observational design (74.2% cross-sectional, 16.1% cohort, 6.5% case study, 3.2% experimental trials). Most studies (61.3%) reported on perception, understanding, and uptake, and 35.5% reported on engagement, compliance, and adherence to COVID-19 measures. The most frequently reported sources of COVID-related information were social media, TV, news (newspapers/news websites), and government sources. We identified five important equity factors related to public trust and uptake of recommendations: education and health literacy (19 studies; 61.3%), gender (15 studies; 48.4%), age (15 studies; 48.4%), socioeconomic status (11 studies; 35.5%), and place of residence (10 studies; 32.3%). Our review suggests that equity factors play a role in public perception of COVID-19 information and recommendations. A future systematic review could be conducted to estimate the impact of equity factors on perception and behavior outcomes.

Can Mobile Payment Increase Household Income and Mitigate the Lower Income Condition Caused by Health Risks? Evidence from Rural China

China has moved into a new stage of its fight against poverty, where the further raising of rural household income is of great importance. Health risk is one of the biggest obstacles to the poverty reduction progress. Therefore, how to cope with the negative effects of health risks has attracted the attention of scholars, especially in the background of the global outbreak of COVID-19. In this paper, we try to explore whether mobile payment, a new form of payment, can improve the income of rural households and mitigate the lower income condition caused by health risks in China. Using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey, we found: (1) mobile payment can substantially increase rural household income; (2) health risks will lower the income of rural residents, but mobile payment can lessen this negative effect. Mechanism analysis indicates that mobile payment is likely to ease liquidity constraints, increase social interaction, and stimulate entrepreneurship for rural households. We advised the government to promote mobile payment adoption in rural areas and enhance its design. Additionally, better medical resources should also be made available to rural households.