Geospatial application to assess the accessibility to the health facilities in Egypt

The residents of Egypt have been facing a large number of health issues. A significant level of overpopulation and pollution activate health problems in Egypt. The public health insurance system is providing low-quality medical care to the majority of their customers. In the present study, Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used to assess the accessibility to health facilities in Egypt by incorporating the spatial and remote sensing datasets. The network analyst tools were applied to the road network, and health facilities to find the accessibility, and the spatial overlay analysis were performed to mask the residential areas and population count. To analyze the accessibility, by walk and by a vehicle as the means of transport within a time interval of 10–60 min were assessed. The results showed that 337 clinics and 233 hospitals were attending 99 million people out of which the unserved people were 78 million. It was found that 79% and 23% of the population by walk and by vehicle to clinics, and 75% and 16% of the population by walk and by vehicle to the hospitals were unserved. The success of the health sector is very important for the development of the social, cultural, and economical sectors of a country. The study is very helpful for health planners and policymakers.