title: Spatial accessibility of the population to urban health centres in Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran: a geographic information systems analysis.
abstract: Geographic information systems (GIS) analysis has not been widely used in underdeveloped countries to ensure that vulnerable populations have accessibility to primary health-care services. This study applied GIS methods to analyse the spatial accessibility to urban primary-care centres of the population in Kermanshah city, Islamic Republic of Iran, by age and sex groups. In a descriptive-analytical study over 3 time periods, network analysis, mean centre and standard distance methods were applied using ArcGIS 9.3. The analysis was based on a standard radius of 750 m distance from health centres, walking speed of 1 m/s and desired access time to health centres of 12.5 mins. The proportion of the population with inadequate geographical access to health centres rose from 47.3% in 1997 to 58.4% in 2012. The mean centre and standard distance mapping showed that the spatial distribution of health centres in Kermanshah needed to be adjusted to changes in population distribution.
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Reshadat
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saedi
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zangeneh
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ghasemi
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Gilan
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karbasi
authors.affiliation: Social Development and Health Promotion Research Centre, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bavandpoor
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011320:Primary Health Care; D014504:Urban Health