Equity in healthcare accessibility: a purpose of urbanity

Resumen

The study-area of the present study is the local council of Coimbra, located in the center of Mainland Portugal. It is intended to demonstrate how GIS tools provide an adequate framework in the process of spatial reorganization of the Health centres system/network in the local council of Coimbra. More precisely, it is intended to: i) analyze the characteristics of supply within the existing health units; ii) quantify and understand the differences between potential, expressed and effective demand; iii) adjust the location of HCs in order to answer the needs of resident population and individuals actually registered in the health units; iv) build analytical mathematical models which quantify gains in terms of geographical accessibility, paying particular attention to soft and public means of transportation.