Analysis of Health Indicators Status in Districts of Ardabil Province

Regional planning requires identification of the development status of regions relative to each other. One of the indicators of development is health indicator that describes utilization of health services in the society. The purpose of this study is to analyze health indicators status in Ardabil province and prioritize them for future planning.
Based on practical objectives this is a descriptive and analytical study. Data related to the indices (institutional, human resources and rural health) were collected from 2011 statistics report published by Iran’s Statistical Center. Excel and SPSS software were used to analyze data. The indicators were weighted using Entropy method and ranked using VIKIOR technique. The status of the development of each county was determined using cluster analysis method and they were finally mapped using ArcGIS for visualization purposes.
Based on health indicators the results showed that Ardabil County has the first rank and Sarein County with the least score has the last rank.
The results showed that most cities of Ardabil are relatively poor or very poor and in terms of health status indicators they are unstable. Distance from the political and management centers is the main cause of these situations. It is suggested that the development-based planning should be implemented according to the development levels of these counties.