The Location of Health Centers in a Rural Region Using a Decision Support System: a Zambian Case Study
Abstract
Many researchers have argued that the provision of high-quality health care in rural areas serves as a vital component in successful development planning. A key element of rural health care planning relates to the search for appropriate locations for health centers. Alternate location patterns must be evaluated and assessed, and definitions of goals and objectives are required. This paper offers a test of a computer-based decision support system (DSS) called DINAS (Dynamic Interactive Network Analysis System) for tackling the problem of comparing alternate locations for health care centers, with a view to identifying the most appropriate location for a center. Prior to discussing the application of DINAS to a specific location problem in two districts in Zambia (Mpika and Sesheke), general comments on DSSare provided. In Mpika seven alternate locations are evaluated, using six criteria relating to .accessibility and potential utilization patterns. The same set of criteria is used for the Sesheke District data set, and ten locations are considered. The site selection problem had to be stated in a specific way in order that DINAS could be used, since this DSS had traditionally been applied to location-allocation problems. The results generated by DINAS are compared to those provided by the application of concordance analysis. Finally, it is suggested that a DSS, such as DINAS, can contribute to improved planning.References
Armstrong, M.P, Densham, P.J. and Rushton, G. (1986). Architecture for a microcomputer based spatial decision support system, In D.F. Marble (ed.), Proceedings, Second International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling. Williamsville, NY: International Geographical Union, pp. 120-31.
Bennet, V.L., Eaton, D. and Church, R. (1982). Selecting sites for rural health workers. Social Sciences and Medicine, 16:63-72.
Colerni, A. (1987). Optimization techniques in locational modelling. In: C.S. Bertuglia, G. Leonardi, S. Occelli, G.A. Rabino, R. Tadei, and A.G. Wilson eds.), Urban Systems: Contemporary Approaches to Modelling. London: Croom Helm, pp. 253-333.
Day, P. and Klein, R. (1987). Accountabilities: Five Public Services. London and New York: Tavistock Publications.
Densham, P. and Rushton, G. (1987). Decision support systems for locational planning. In: R.G. Golledge and H. Timmermans, Behavioral Modelling in Geography and Planning. New York: Croom Helm, pp. 56-90.
Fisher, H.B. and Rushton, G. (1979). Spatial efficiency of service locations and the regional development process. Papers of the Regional Science Assoc. 52:83-97.
Hom, M., O'Callaghan, J. and Garner, B. (1988). Design of integrated systems for spatial planning tasks. In: Proceedings Third International Symposium on Spatial Data Handling, August 17-19. Sydney, pp. 107-116.
Jones, K. and Simmons, J. (1987). Location, Location, Location: Analyzing the Retail Environment. Toronto: Methuen.
Keen, P.G.W. and Scott-Morton, M.S. (1978). Decision Support Systems: An Organizational Perspective. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Lewandowski, A. and Wierzbicki, A.P. (1987). Theory, software and test examples for decision support systems. Working Paper, International Institute for Applied System Analysis. Luxenburg, Austria.
Lonsdale, R.E. and Enyedi, G. (eds.) (1984). Rural Public Services: International Comparisons. Boulder, CO: Westview.
Malczewski, J. (1990). Central facility location and environmental health. Environment and Planning A. 22 (in press).
Malczewski, J. and Ogryczak, W. (1990). An interactive approach to the central facility location problem. Geographical Analysis, (in press).
Massam, B.H. (1975). Location and Space in Social Administration. London: Edward Arnold, Ltd.
Massam, B.H. (1980). Spatial Search: Applications to Planning Problems in the Public Sector. Oxford: Pergamon.
Massam, B.H. (1988a) Evaluation and Implementation: The Location of Health Centres in Zambia, A Study in Consensus. Institute of Population Studies, University of Exeter, U.K.
Massam, B.H. (l988b) Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques in planning. Progress in Planning. 30:1-84.
Massam, B.H. (1988c). The location of public facilities: In search of a generic problem. In: B.H. Massam (ed.), Complex Location Problems: Interdisciplinary approac hes. Institute for Social Research. Ontario, Canada.: York University.
Massam, B.H., Akhtar, R. and Askew, 1.D. (1986). Applying operations research to health planning: Locating health centres in Zambia. Health Policy and Planning. 4:326-334.
Massam, B.H. and Askew, 1. (1984). A theoretical perspective on rural service provision: A systems approach. In: R.E. Lonsdale and G. Enyedi (eds.), Rural Public Services: International Comparisons. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp. 15-38.
Massam, B.H. and Malczewski, J. (1990). Complex location problems: Can decision support systems help? The Operational Geographer. (in press).
Ogryczak, W., Studzinski, K. and Zorychta, K. (1987). General concepts of the Dynamic Interactive Network Analysis System (DINAS). Archiwum Automatyki i Telemechaniki. 32:277-287.
Ogryczak, W., Studzinski, K. and Zorychta. K. (1988). Dynamic Interactive Network Analysis System-DINAS. Version 2.1: User's Manual. WP-88-114, IIASA, Luxembourg.
Robinson, V.B. (1983). Urban Data Management Software (UDMS) Package: User's Manual. United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (HABITAT), Nairobi.
Robinson, V.B. and Coiner, J.C. (1986). Characteristics and diffusion of a microcomputer geoprocessing system: The urban data management software (UDMS) package. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 10:165-173.
Seo, F. and Sakawa, M. (1988). Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis in Regional Planning: Concepts. Methods and Applications. Dordrecht, Holland: D. Reidel Publishing Company.
Taylor, J. and Taylor, W. (1987). Searching for solutions. PC Magazine. 6:311-337.
Wierzbicki, A.P. (1982), A mathematical basis for satisfying decision making. Mathematical Modelling, 3:391-405.
Wanmali, S. (1983). Service Provision and Rural Development in India: A Study of Miryalguda Talua. Research Report 37. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.
Zeleny, M. (1976). The theory of displaced ideal. In: M. Zeleny (ed.), Multiple Criteria Decision Making. Berlin: Springer Verlag, pp. 153-206.
- The contributor(s) (authors) warrant that the entire work is original and unpublished; it is submitted only to this Journal and all text, data, figures/tables or other illustrations included in this work are completely original and unpublished, and these have not been previously published or submitted elsewhere in any form or media whatsoever.
- The contributor(s) warrant that the work contains no unlawful or libelous statements and opinions and liable materials of any kind whatsoever, does not infringe on any copyrights, intellectual property rights, personal rights or rights of any kind of others, nor contains any plagiarized, fraudulent, improperly attributed materials, instructions, procedures, information or ideas that might cause any harm, damage, injury, losses or costs of any kind to person or property.
- The contributor(s) retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- The contributor(s) are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- The contributor(s) are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
- Geography Research Forum may disseminate the content of the publications and publications’ Meta data in text, image, or other print and electronic formats to providers of research databases (e.g. EBSCO, GeoBase, JSTOR) to facilitate publications' exposure.
