A Geospatial Approach to Assess Health Coverage and Scaling-Up of Healthcare Facilities

The UN Sustainable Development Goals seek univer-sal health coverage and accessibility to quality healthcare services by 2030 for creating a healthier and equitable world. This study highlights the role of geospatial model in assessing the geographic coverage of healthcare facilities in Manipur, India, and the need for scaling-up of the existing health centres in the region. A geodatabase on the existing healthcare facilities has been developed in the study. Mapping of health centre facilities, coverage analysis and scaling-up assessment are carried out using ArcGIS and AccessMod. The model results show that locations of the existing healthcare services are significantly spa-tially clustered amongst themselves, with an observed mean distance of 2.62 km. Scaling-up analysis consid-ering the projected population of 2020 indicates the requirement of 66 new health facility centres, mostly in the hill districts of Manipur. This study indicates the need for scaling-up healthcare facilities that can cover the entire population in each district of Mani-pur. It also indirectly addresses one of the fundamen-tal aspects of the healthcare system, i.e. equity in the distribution of healthcare facilities and their accessi-bility to all sections of the society.