Geographical Accessibility of Rural Communities to Rural Health Houses Using Geographical Information System ‎: A Case Study in Khozestan Province, Iran

Providing fairly accessible and economical services for rural communities is one of the main challenges of health systems in many countries. Geographical information system (GIS) can be used as useful tool for analyzing and modeling the accessibility of rural communities to health services. This study aimed to perform geographical analysis on the accessibility of rural communities of Khozestan Province, Iran, to rural health houses.
This was an applied and descriptive-analytical study. The study population consisted of all villages of Khozestan Province. After gathering spatial data, and defining descriptive indexes and reforming them, this data was entered into ArcGIS software. Then, major levels were defined and the operational area of the health houses was determined.
Findings: The results of this study showed that 3315 of the total 4547 villages (72.9%) had permanent inhabitants, 146 (3.2%) had seasonal inhabitants, and 985 (23.9%) had no inhabitants. Only 2223 (48.9%) villages had asphalt roads. Moreover, 358 villages which had permanent inhabitants were located outside the health house accessibility boundary.
In Khuzestan Province, geographical accessibility to rural health houses has some challenges. Some of these challenges are due to the inappropriate condition of rural roads, geographical isolation and scattered villages, and unbalanced development of villages. GIS can be used to improve the efficiency of the rural network extension plan.