scholarly journals Accessibility to health care facilities in Montreal Island: an application of relative accessibility indicators from the perspective of senior and non-senior residents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Paez ◽  
Ruben G Mercado ◽  
Steven Farber ◽  
Catherine Morency ◽  
Matthew Roorda
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Standard Industrial Classification ◽  
Trip Length ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Care Facilities

Background Geographical access to health care facilities is known to influence health services usage. As societies age, accessibility to health care becomes an increasingly acute public health concern. It is known that seniors tend to have lower mobility levels, and it is possible that this may negatively affect their ability to reach facilities and services. Therefore, it becomes important to examine the mobility situation of seniors vis-a-vis the spatial distribution of health care facilities, to identify areas where accessibility is low and interventions may be required. Methods Accessibility is implemented using a cumulative opportunities measure. Instead of assuming a fixed bandwidth (i.e. a distance threshold) for measuring accessibility, in this paper the bandwidth is defined using model-based estimates of average trip length. Average trip length is an all-purpose indicator of individual mobility and geographical reach. Adoption of a spatial modelling approach allows us to tailor these estimates of travel behaviour to specific locations and person profiles. Replacing a fixed bandwidth with these estimates permits us to calculate customized location- and person-based accessibility measures that allow inter-personal as well as geographical comparisons. Data The case study is Montreal Island. Geo-coded travel behaviour data, specifically average trip length, and relevant traveller's attributes are obtained from the Montreal Household Travel Survey. These data are complemented with information from the Census. Health care facilities, also geo-coded, are extracted from a comprehensive business point database. Health care facilities are selected based on Standard Industrial Classification codes 8011-21 (Medical Doctors and Dentists). Results Model-based estimates of average trip length show that travel behaviour varies widely across space. With the exception of seniors in the downtown area, older residents of Montreal Island tend to be significantly less mobile than people of other age cohorts. The combination of average trip length estimates with the spatial distribution of health care facilities indicates that despite being more mobile, suburban residents tend to have lower levels of accessibility compared to central city residents. The effect is more marked for seniors. Furthermore, the results indicate that accessibility calculated using a fixed bandwidth would produce patterns of exposure to health care facilities that would be difficult to achieve for suburban seniors given actual mobility patterns. Conclusions The analysis shows large disparities in accessibility between seniors and non-seniors, between urban and suburban seniors, and between vehicle owning and non-owning seniors. This research was concerned with potential accessibility levels. Follow up research could consider the results reported here to select case studies of actual access and usage of health care facilities, and related health outcomes.

scholarly journals Accessibility to health care facilities in Montreal Island: an application of relative accessibility indicators from the perspective of senior and non-senior residents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Paez ◽  
Ruben G Mercado ◽  
Steven Farber ◽  
Catherine Morency ◽  
Matthew Roorda
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Standard Industrial Classification ◽  
Trip Length ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Care Facilities

Background Geographical access to health care facilities is known to influence health services usage. As societies age, accessibility to health care becomes an increasingly acute public health concern. It is known that seniors tend to have lower mobility levels, and it is possible that this may negatively affect their ability to reach facilities and services. Therefore, it becomes important to examine the mobility situation of seniors vis-a-vis the spatial distribution of health care facilities, to identify areas where accessibility is low and interventions may be required. Methods Accessibility is implemented using a cumulative opportunities measure. Instead of assuming a fixed bandwidth (i.e. a distance threshold) for measuring accessibility, in this paper the bandwidth is defined using model-based estimates of average trip length. Average trip length is an all-purpose indicator of individual mobility and geographical reach. Adoption of a spatial modelling approach allows us to tailor these estimates of travel behaviour to specific locations and person profiles. Replacing a fixed bandwidth with these estimates permits us to calculate customized location- and person-based accessibility measures that allow inter-personal as well as geographical comparisons. Data The case study is Montreal Island. Geo-coded travel behaviour data, specifically average trip length, and relevant traveller's attributes are obtained from the Montreal Household Travel Survey. These data are complemented with information from the Census. Health care facilities, also geo-coded, are extracted from a comprehensive business point database. Health care facilities are selected based on Standard Industrial Classification codes 8011-21 (Medical Doctors and Dentists). Results Model-based estimates of average trip length show that travel behaviour varies widely across space. With the exception of seniors in the downtown area, older residents of Montreal Island tend to be significantly less mobile than people of other age cohorts. The combination of average trip length estimates with the spatial distribution of health care facilities indicates that despite being more mobile, suburban residents tend to have lower levels of accessibility compared to central city residents. The effect is more marked for seniors. Furthermore, the results indicate that accessibility calculated using a fixed bandwidth would produce patterns of exposure to health care facilities that would be difficult to achieve for suburban seniors given actual mobility patterns. Conclusions The analysis shows large disparities in accessibility between seniors and non-seniors, between urban and suburban seniors, and between vehicle owning and non-owning seniors. This research was concerned with potential accessibility levels. Follow up research could consider the results reported here to select case studies of actual access and usage of health care facilities, and related health outcomes.

Spatial distribution of public health care facilities in rural areas of Nalanda district, Bihar

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 387-399
Author(s):  
Anand Kumar ◽  
◽  
Dhiraj Kumar Sharma ◽  
Satya Prakash ◽  
Ram Sakal Yadava ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Graphical Representation ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Public Health Care ◽  
Location Quotient ◽  
Care Facilities

At this critical juncture of time when the whole world is facing a health care emergency due to the occurrence of (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. It becomes necessary to critically evaluate public health care facilities and their availability to common people to tackle the ongoing crisis rationally. In this regard, this paper tries to study the spatial distribution of public health care facilities and their availability in rural areas of Nalanda district. Location quotient, Lorenz curve and Gini's coefficient have been worked out to find unequal concentration, availability and distribution of public health care facilities across the study area. To show the concentration and distribution of health care facilities over space maps have been drawn on ArcGIS. MS Excel and Word have been used for showing the availability of health care facilities through graphical representation and for tabulation purposes. This paper concludes that community development blocks surrounding district headquarter have a higher concentration and larger availability of rural public health care facilities in comparison to peripheral community development blocks of the study area.

scholarly journals Assessing equity of the spatial distribution of primary health care facilities in Fuzhou City, China: A comprehensive method

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261256
Author(s):  
Ninglong You
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Residential Areas ◽  
Comprehensive Method ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Primary Health Care Facilities

Background It is well known that equity assessment of the spatial distribution of primary health care facilities (PHCFs) is significant to optimize the allocation of health care resources and enhance the ability to react to public health emergencies, yet there is much discussion about the poor effectiveness of assessment for many cities due to the limitations of the insufficient ability of traditional data to reflect residents’ demands, etc. In many cities where PHCFs are inequity distributed, this is urgently needed for the government. Methods Using Fuzhou City, China as a case study, we propose a comprehensive method for assessing the equity that consisting of two frameworks based on the Geographic Information System. The first framework is assessing resident demand based on daily demand and potential demand, and the second is assessing PHCFs supply based on road impedance. This method combines an index system based on multi-source data and a spatial matching analysis between resident demand and PHCFs supply based on the supply-demand disparity index. Results The demand degree for the PHCFs and the supply degree of accessing the PHCFs of different residential areas differ to great extents. The equity of the spatial distribution of PHCFs shows well overall, but there is still a lack of equity in local areas. The number of the residential areas with the lowest equity, insufficient supply and oversupply accounted for 10.31% and 39.00% respectively; the former is mainly gathered in a concentrated form at the edge and in a scattered form inside, and the latter is distributed in the interior mostly in a concentrated manner. Conclusion The key findings highlight several aspects of improving the layout of PHCFs such as strengthen an in-depth analysis on residents’ demand. This study contributes to a more accurate equity assessment, and further improves the layout of health care facilities.

scholarly journals Effects of dietary and health factors on nutritional status of children in pastoral settings in Borana, southern Ethiopia, August–October 2015

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bekele Megersa ◽  
Abebe Haile ◽  
Uriel Kitron
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Nutritional Status ◽  
Lower Risk ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Pastoral System ◽  
Care Facilities ◽  
Nutritional Status Of Children

Abstract Background Childhood undernourishment is a major public health problem globally, and being responsible for higher mortalities in children and enormous health costs in sub-Saharan Africa. However, scarcity of data on the magnitude of malnutrition and its underlying causes, especially in the pastoral system, limits the effectiveness of potential interventions. This study addresses the nutritional status and factors associated with malnutrition among children in Borana pastoral system, southern Ethiopia. Methods A community based cross-sectional study, using multistage cluster sampling, was conducted from August to October 2015. Dietary diversity score (DDS), milk and meal frequencies, anthropometric measurements, and socio-economic variables were recorded for 538 children aged 6–59 months. Multivariable generalized linear model (GLM) with log link function was applied to ascertain determinants of malnutrition. The strength of association was assessed based on prevalence ratio (PR). Results Prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting were 28.3 % (95 % CI: 24.4–32.1), 41.1 % (95 % CI: 36.7–45.1), and 9.8 % (95 % CI: 7.3, 12.4), respectively. Children who consumed more diverse foods were at a lower risk of being underweight (PR = 0.72, 95 % CL: 0.59–0.88), stunted (PR = 0.80, 95 % CL: 0.68–0.93) and wasted (PR = 0.42, 95 % CL: 0.27–0.66). Intake of increased milk frequency was also associated with lower risk of underweight (PR = 0.86, 95 %CL: 0.76–0.97), stunting (PR = 0.83, 95 %CL: 0.75–0.91) and wasting (PR = 0.73, 95 %CL: 0.56–0.96). The risk of underweight (PR = 1.02, 95 %CL: 1.01–1.03), stunting (PR = 1.01, 95 %CL: 1.00–1.02) and wasting (PR = 1.01, 95 %CL: 1.00–1.04) had increased with age, and no difference was observed between boys and girls. Children who lived far away from health care facilities were 1.2 and 2.4 times more likely to be stunted and wasted, respectively than those residing near a health care facility. Ownership of toilet and living close to market were associated with reduced stunting, whereas illness was associated with increased risk of underweight. Conclusions The high prevalence of stunting among pastoral children is a serious public health concern and calls for urgent action. Association of nutritional status of children with dietary intake, and health status, access to health services and toilet availability underlines the need for improved nutrition practices, health care facilities and sanitary conditions in the study area.

ETHNOVETERINARY MEDICINAL USES OF SOME MEDICINAL PLANTS ON PNEUMONIA BY THE GUJJAR AND PAHARI TRIBES OF POONCH DISTRICT OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMIL AHMED KHAN ◽  
RAJINDER PAUL
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Medicinal Plant ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Jammu And Kashmir ◽  
Medicinal Uses ◽  
Modern Health Care ◽  
Care Facilities

Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir is a reservoir of enormous natural resources including the wealth of medicinal plants. The present paper deals with 12 medicinal plant species belonging to 8 genera of angiosperms used on pneumonia in cattle such as cows, sheep, goats and buffaloes in different areas of Poonch district. Due to poverty and nonavailability of modern health care facilities, the indigenous people of the area partially or fully depend on surrounding medicinal plants to cure the different ailments of their cattles. Further research on modern scientific line is necessary to improve their efficacy, safety and validation of the traditional knowledge.

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