Ciudad y COVID-19: accesibilidad de población adulta mayor a unidades médicas en Chimalhuacán, Estado de México

Abstract

COVID-19 confronts healthcare systems with an enormous demand for services. A large part of the affected population is vulnerable due to their age, comorbidities, and socioeconomic status. The objectives of this research are: 1) to estimate accessibility to public primary care units for older adults in Chimalhuacán through walking transfers, and 2) to identify the locations that increase, to a greater extent, the accessibility of this population to new primary care units. The proposed methodology combines two methods to achieve a more accessible, efficient, and equitable socio-spatial distribution of the healthcare system for older adults in a dense urban Mexican municipality. The results reveal inequalities in the accessibility of this group to healthcare units, and a local solution is proposed by increasing the service with six new facilities. The conclusions synthesize the main findings and limitations of the work, suggesting lines of research.