Evaluation of access to health care in rural areas using enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method

Abstract

The study concerns with the quantification of accessibility to health facilities which is a prime concern in rural areas. In order to assure access to health care, planning commissions and policy decision makers require definite and reliable measures of accessibility values, thus that appropriate health care shortage areas can be analyzed and a policy decision can be taken accordingly to pacify the problem. Thus in this paper enhanced two step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method, a special case of gravity model is used to quantify the present accessibility levels to health in rural areas. E2SFCA method which is an enhancement of two step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method differentiates the accessibility of the population within the catchment area by introducing a distance decay function. At the point when calibrating the distance decay from the travel behavior of patients in the study areas, it is revealed that sigmoidal functions are more likely suitable for the high population density regions and also plain terrains and decline functions for low population density regions and difficult desert or hilly areas. The paper yields health care shortage areas.