Abstract
The issue of reducing spatial disparities in access to healthcare is one of the most important healthcare planning issues that policy makers and planners investigate and consider as a key focus until present time. A healthcare system that meets the requirements of availability and affordability will be useless if the spatial accessibility to healthcare is not provided to all equally. Therefore, this study aims to identify and analyze spatial disparities in access to healthcare centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method was used to measure spatial accessibility of healthcare centers based on the travel time threshold (i.e., 30-min drive time in this study). The GIS technology was used to execute the 2SFCA method. A geodatabase, which includes the population districts, locations of healthcare centers, and road network, was created. Some procedures were performed within the road network database to set the travel time that is considered as an essential step to compute the origin–destination (OD) cost matrix. The OD matrix was later used as the source for calculating provider-to-population ratios and the spatial accessibility scores for population districts. The results of the study revealed spatial disparities in access to healthcare centers in Jeddah city. The majority of the Jeddah population (i.e., 97.51%) have accessibility to healthcare centers, but with disparate levels. The central districts have a higher access score compared to the rest of the city’s districts. Most districts that do not have accessibility to healthcare centers are concentrated in the southeast of the city. The results can help local health planners improve spatial equity in access to healthcare centers through giving the less-served districts a priority when allocating future healthcare centers in Jeddah city.
Highlights
Health is one of the most important basic requirements for a human life [1]
The first step after creating the geo-database was to understand the current condition about the healthcare centers and initially analyze their spatial distribution in Jeddah city
It is clear that healthcare centers are concentrated in the high population density areas, which are often concentrated in the city core, where they can serve a larger population, while the spatial concentration of these centers decreases in medium to low population density areas
Summary
Health is one of the most important basic requirements for a human life [1]. Improving public health for all people by ensuring equal access to healthcare is considered one of the primary Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) [2,3]. The healthcare system is considered an important indicator reflecting the level of evolution and urbanization of urban communities. Studying this field has become a priority for many researchers, especially with the evolution of computer technologies that are able to study and analyze a reality of healthcare systems in populated areas ) [4,5,6]. Half of world’s population has difficulty accessing healthcare [7] These communities will not be able to perform their functions with high efficiency, which negatively affects social and economic development over time. Especially urban planners in developing and developed countries, have been seeking to overcome this challenge by providing an equitable and efficient healthcare system [5,8,9,10]
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