A study on integration of health and education facilities in Rural Access Index (RAI)

Abstract

Rural Access Index (RAI) is one of the most widely used policy metrics for evaluating rural accessibility. But the indicator focuses only on the mobility aspect of accessibility, omitting consideration of facility proximation. This article proposes a modified version of the RAI that incorporates two critical facilities: healthcare and education. Additionally, it examines whether the new RAI would result in a better representation of accessibility for Bangladesh. For this study, 40 upazilas (sub-regions) having above 80% rural population and reflecting diverse geographical regions were chosen as study areas. All data were collected from secondary sources. Buffer analysis and multiple regression models were developed for the two RAIs separately. Findings reveal the mean RAI to be 47.24, which was 76.83 for the World Bank (WB) method. About 29.6% people per upazila are located near quality roads but do not have basic facilities nearby. Based on regression models and further analysis, the proposed RAI is more credible for evaluating accessibility, whereas all parts of the existing RAI do not guarantee service availability. Irrespective of opportunities available, the average WB RAI remains around 75.53, which may not entirely reflect accessibility accurately. The study suggests rethinking RAI implementations and underlining the importance of measuring access holistically for effective resource allocation.