ABSTRACT
In 2004 the Center for Health Statistics and Information of the Ministry of Health officially published “An Analysis Report on the Third National Health Services Survey.”2 This is a very good and authoritative investigation report on the national conditions of the health of the population. I think that the third national health services survey has a clear aim and the survey is well designed and the method of the survey is scientific; the analysis of the survey is of high quality; the major findings are convincing. It provides background for research of great reference value for getting to know and analyze the national conditions of the health of the population and for mapping out the health development strategy and policies in cities and the countryside. At the same time, it provides extremely important information for realizing the population health objectives of the UN’s “Millennium Development Goals.” What merits special mention is that the survey report has given the major findings of the previous two health service surveys conducted in 1993 and 1998, which enables us to see the changes and characteristics in the health conditions and health service demand in cities and the countryside over the past ten years and enables us to give an objective evaluation of the past health reform and the effects and problems of public health policies.
