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Volume :32 Issue : 3 2004
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Primary Health Care Centers in Al Jahra Governorate - Kuwait: A Spatial Analysis
Auther : Ajeel Al-zaher
The characteristics of primary health care have merited the attention of geographical studies which depend on quantitative analysis. The idea was to highlight the quantitative features of health care and relate them to geographical factors influencing them, particularly the location factor. Al Jahra is the largest of all Kuwaiti governorates accommodating the urban zone of Al Jahra city which is the third biggest conglomeration of people in Kuwait. This is why it has been of great interest to the primary health care researcher being one of the more significant urban areas in the governorate and thus providing ample opportunity for conducting a location analysis to identify balance in the geographical distribution of health care and its optimal utilization. The study depends on the quantitative analysis approach which aims at assessing the location features of health care in the governorate. It has shown that there is no correlation in ratios of change of medical services which can suggest an imbalance in the geographical distribution of health centers in the governorate as a whole compared to the highly balanced distribution of centers in the urban areas. By analyzing the sphere of influence (i.e. distance between residential areas and health centers), it seems that only 8.6% of the centers are located within 1 km. This low percentage reflects that the distance is rather long which reduces the optimal use of health centers in the area.