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Healthcare Accessibility and Socio-economic Deprivation: A Case Study in Quito, Ecuador

    Pablo Cabrera Barona, Thomas Blaschke

GI_Forum 2015, Volume 3, pp. 484-492, 2015/06/29

Journal for Geographic Information Science

Geospatial Minds for Society

doi: 10.1553/giscience2015s484


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doi:10.1553/giscience2015s484


Abstract

Comparing different healthcare accessibility measures and relating them to socio-economic information is a useful means for identifying health inequalities. In this study, a socioeconomic deprivation index is initially calculated. Then, three measures of health services accessibility are calculated: distance to the nearest health center, a two-step floating catchment area measure, and a modified gravity-based accessibility measure. Finally, the three accessibility measures are compared to the socio-economic deprivation index. The study is applied in a study case in Quito, Ecuador. Results show differences between the different healthcare accessibility measures, and that areas with more socio-economic deprivation can be considered as areas that have limited access to health services.