Spatial disparities and associated factors of Under-five diarrhea disease in Ilubabor Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Diarrhea is commonly a sign of an infection in the intestinal tract that is caused by different bacteria, virus and parasitic entities. It is one of the leading causes of child mortality worldwide, especially in sub-Saharan Africa countries including Ethiopia. The main objective of this study was to identify spatial disparities and associated factors of under- five diarrhea disease in Ilubabor zone, Oromia regional state, Ethiopia. The study has been conducted in Ilu Aba Bor zone of entire districts and the data is basically both primary and secondary which were obtained from each woreda health office of Ilu Aba Bor zone and corresponding mother or care givers of sampled child. Spatial disparities of under-five diarrhea were identified using global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation. Geo-additive regression model was used to identify the spatial disparities and associated factors of under-five diarrheal disease. The value of global and local measures of spatial autocorrelation shows that under-five diarrheal disease varies according to geographical location and shows significant positive spatial autocorrelation. The results of Geo-additive regression model showed that statistically significant relationship between under-five diarrhea disease and independent variables .There is evidence of significant under-five diarrheal disease clustering in Ilu Aba Bor zone, southwest Ethiopia. Model based data analysis showed that there is significant relationship between Under-five diarrhea and covariates (mother’s age, mother’s education, source of drinking water, quality of toilet facility, DPT 3 vaccination, Polio 3 vaccination and household wealth index.).

Comparative Analysis of Spatial Disparities Based on Infrastructure Development and Socioeconomic Indices: A Case Study of Lahore

Infrastructure development and socioeconomic factors are directly related to the opulence and economic growth of any region. Disparity in the allocation of resources within a city has a huge influence on the socioeconomic factors of the population. Cities in developing countries manifesta vast disparity in the provision of infrastructural facilities and it leads to curbing the socioeconomic development of their residents. The current research aims to study the impact of disparity in infrastructure development on the socioeconomic factors has been assessed in the city of Lahore. Two towns of the city, that is, Johar town and Shalamar town were selected based on two different criteria to examine the impact of disparity in infrastructure development on the prevailing socioeconomic conditions. Primary data was collected with the help of a questionnaire encompassing major infrastructure development factors and socioeconomic indicators. Surveys were conducted in these towns with the disproportionate technique of stratified sampling. Data was analyzed through SPSS. Statistical Linear Regression Model was applied to determine whether a relationship exists among the infrastructural and socioeconomic indicators or not. The results showed that the town with better infrastructure development has far better socioeconomic conditions as compared to the less developed town within the same city. Keywords: inequality, infrastructural development, socio-economic indices, spatial disparities

Socio-spatial disparities in access to emergency health care—A Scandinavian case study

Having timely access to emergency health care (EHC) depends largely on where you live. In this Scandinavian case study, we investigate how accessibility to EHC varies spatially in order to reveal potential socio-spatial disparities in access. Distinct measures of EHC accessibility were calculated for southern Sweden in a network analysis using a Geographical Information System (GIS) based on data from 2018. An ANOVA test was carried out to investigate how accessibility vary for different measures between urban and rural areas, and negative binominal regression modelling was then carried out to assess potential disparities in accessibility between socioeconomic and demographic groups. Areas with high shares of older adults show poor access to EHC, especially those in the most remote, rural areas. However, rurality alone does not preclude poor access to EHC. Education, income and proximity to ambulance stations were also associated with EHC accessibility, but not always in expected ways. Despite indications of a well-functioning EHC, with most areas served within one hour, socio-spatial disparities in access to EHC were detected both between places and population groups.

Spatial Disparities and Correlated Variables of Community Care Facility Accessibility in Rural Areas of China

With the increasing aging of the world’s population, research on the equitable allocation of elderly care facilities has received increasing attention, but measuring the accessibility of community care facilities (CCFs) in rural areas has received little attention. In this study, which covered 7985 CCFs in 223,877 villages, we measured the accessibility of CCFs in rural areas of Hubei Province by using the nearest distance method. Based on the accessibility calculation, the spatial disparities and agglomeration characteristics of spatial accessibility were analyzed, and the correlated variables related to the accessibility were analyzed from both natural environment and socioeconomic aspects by employing a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. Our results show that 87% of villages have a distance cost of less than 7121 m and 81% of townships have a distance cost of less than 5114 m; good spatial accessibility is present in the eastern and central regions, while poor spatial accessibility is shown in a small number of areas in the west. The results from the clustering analysis show that the hot spot areas are mainly clustered in the western mountainous areas and that the cold spot areas are mainly clustered around Wuhan city. We also observed that area, elevation, population aged 65 and above, and number of villages are significantly correlated with accessibility. The results of this study can be used to provide a reference for configuration optimization and layout planning of elderly care facilities in rural areas.

Functional Regions as Bases for Provinces in Slovenia

Socio-economically based functional regions, which are partially self-contained economic areas, are often more suitable for various structural analyses, implementation of state and regional policies, development of state administration, planning and monitoring of spatial development, identification of spatial disparities and other analyses of socio-economic relations than the traditional historically and geographically based administrative regions. This article therefore examines the assumption that functional regions are a suitable basis for the formation of territorial provinces in Slovenia. We have modelled the functional regions of Slovenia according to the established and internationally accepted method CURDS and compared them with the current proposals for provinces and established statistical regions in Slovenia. The results show a very strong functional contiguity and a good economic balance of eight provinces and a very good population balance of the provinces with two special status urban municipalities.

Use of 2SFCA Method to Identify and Analyze Spatial Access Disparities to Healthcare in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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.