Identification of areas with geographical access difficulties to public health services in Costa Rica: a methodological proposal
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51481/amc.v64i2.1124Keywords:
Health Services Accessibility, Socioeconomic Factors, Geography Medical, Public Health, Mobility, Primary careAbstract
Aim: The objective of this study is to present and apply a methodological tool to identify the areas in which the inhabitants could have geographic access difficulties as a barrier to access to health services, both because of its distance from the health center and its mobility capacity, specifically in the cantons of Curridabat, Escazú and Desamparados.
Methods: Based on the geographical division of the country into minimum geostatistical units carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas y Censos, the distance in minutes that it would take to walk it was calculated for each unit, based on the actual fastest route between the minimum geostatistical unit and the headquarters of its assigned basic health care team.
Results: An 3.4% of the studied population lived in a minimum geostatistical unit classified as having significant difficulty accessing health services since they accumulated both the physical barrier of distance and little mobility in automobiles. 65 minimum geostatistical units were identified (out of 2014 included in the study) as being at more than 20 minutes walking from the basic health care team, with a population with low mobility capacity, and consequently low socioeconomic status. Most of these were found in the Desamparados Health Area.
Conclusion: This study presents and applies a methodological tool to identify the areas in which the inhabitants could have geographic access difficulties as a barrier to access to health services, both due to their distance from the health center and their mobility capacity, in Curridabat, Escazú and Desamparados.
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