Location of health care facilities: An analytical approach

The problem of health facilities location is explored under a mathematical optimization approach. Several models are developed for the location of a generalized health facility system in a region in a manner that the selected criteria are optimized. Locational criteria are structured as a hierarchy of social, economic and political attributes and defined analytically using economic and utility theory. A planning framework, based on the models developed, is presented to aid the health planner in the formulation of health facility location decisions.