Highlighting Canadian health access gaps using GIS

A geographic approach to measuring healthcare access can help connect vulnerable communities to essential health services.

One of the most pressing challenges in Canadian public health is effective geographic access to healthcare, especially in more sparsely populated regions. Convenient access to hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, and other specialized health providers means better health outcomes and well-being among the population. This is especially challenging in Nova Scotia where doctors are retiring and communities are aging, yet additional infrastructure is not being built fast enough to keep up with changing health needs.

In this story map, we adapt ArcGIS tools to measure network adequacy for a more detailed and insightful picture of healthcare accessibility in Canada, using the province of Nova Scotia as an example. 

In case you missed our webinar on “Improving access to care with location intelligence” you can watch the recording here!

This post was translated to French and can be viewed here.