An Assessment of Equity in Urban Health (Case Study: Bojnord City, Iran)

Urban health is not merely the absence of illness in a given city. Rather, it is the complete physical, mental and social well-being of all the citizens as well as a healthy physical, social, cultural, economic and political urban environment. The main purpose of urban health planning is to achieve equitable access for all citizens to full physical, mental and social wellbeing and to the determinants of urban health. Today, the issue of urban health equity has become one of the most pressing issues in different countries around world. Urban health equity means the absence of systematic differences in one or more aspects of the health status of people or of demographic groups in terms of socio-economic factors and the physical environment. Given the importance of the issue, this study made an attempt to investigate urban health equity in Bojnourd city. The present study uses a quantitative, exploratory, applied-developmental, descriptive-analytical design in terms of data analysis, data collection, objectives, methods and procedures, respectively. According to the results, the residents of Bojnourd do not have equitable access to any of the factors that define urban health, including economic, social, physical-spatial and health care related factors. Access to the determinants of health equity becomes more and more difficult as we move away from downtown Bojnourd. As a result, people living in the suburbs of Bojnourd have the least access to health determinants. In general, urban health is a complex concept that is affected by various factors such as social, cultural and economic factors; the physical environment; the urban health system; and, the political structure. Therefore, citizen health is not something that can be achieved through sectoral planning or measures. Citizen health requires long-term, inter-sectoral and integrated planning with the involvement of all individuals and organizations.