Modelling Geographic Accessibility of Primary Health Care Facilities in Bauchi Local Government Area

Abstract

Achieving universal health care (UHC) coverage has been at the forefront of the United Nations (UN) agenda for 2030. Inequality in health care service provision continues to increase, hence militating against the achievement of reducing unequal access to health care. Access is a critical component of the healthcare delivery system that is impacted by both spatial and non-spatial elements. This study utilized health facilities, population, and other open-source data to analyze the distribution and spatial accessibility of healthcare service centers by using Geospatial technologies in the Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State - Nigeria. Two traveling scenarios (Driving and Walking) were used to determine the travel time to the nearest health facilities, defined within a maximum of 30 minutes traveling time using AccessMod (Online) and ArcGIS Pro. It was found that 87% and 75% of the population are within 15 and 30 minutes of travel time by driving and walking, respectively, while 1.3% of the population are outside a 15 km radius of any health facility with a ratio of 1 to 4,454 population to a health facility. The result shows a significant spatial disparity in geographic accessibility and spatial coverage, with some parts of the rural areas not having access to the existing health facility network, regardless of the travel scenario chosen. This will offer an innovative approach to reducing gaps in healthcare access and subsequently enhance the efficient and effective delivery of healthcare services in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) to achieve UHC. Keywords: AccessMod, Bauchi Local Government Area, Geographic Accessibility, Health Facilities, Spatial Coverage, Universal Health Coverage.