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Arid Land Geography ›› 2025, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (7): 1317-1327.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2024.495

• Regional Development • Previous Articles    

Accessibility of medical facilities in Lanzhou City from the perspective of the elderly population

BAI Xueya(), ZHANG Zhibin(), MA Xiaomin, LI Huaying, FU Lanxing   

  1. College of Geography and Environmental Science, Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou 730070, Gansu, China
  • Received:2024-08-17 Revised:2024-09-27 Online:2025-07-25 Published:2025-07-04
  • Contact: ZHANG Zhibin E-mail:bai1230106@163.com;zbzhang@nwnu.edu.cn

Abstract:

In the context of an aging population and the “healthy China” strategy, the rational allocation of urban medical facilities is crucial for enhancing the health and well-being of the elderly. This study utilizes multi-source data, including the Seventh National Census, points of interest for medical facilities, and path planning, along with methodologies such as the average nearest neighbor, an improved two-step floating catchment area method, and bivariate local spatial autocorrelation analysis, to investigate the accessibility of medical treatment for the elderly and the alignment of supply and demand in Lanzhou City, Gansu, China in 2020. The results reveal the following. (1) The elderly population in Lanzhou is unevenly distributed, exhibiting a “ual core” structure characterized by varying density and aging rates. (2) The spatial clustering patterns of medical facilities differ by level: city-level facilities exhibit a “single-center” structure, district-level facilities follow a “one main, multiple secondary” distribution pattern, and street-level facilities adopt a “multi-center” distribution pattern. (3) Accessibility to medical facilities varies significantly among different levels, Specifically, the city and district levels show considerable unevenness, street-level facilities have the broadest range of high-accessibility areas, even though some streets remain low-accessibility “blind spots”. (4) The uneven distribution of medical facilities leads to a mismatch between the elderly population and available medical services at the city, district, and street levels. These research results offer valuable insights for the rational allocation of urban medical facilities and the development of healthy cities.

Key words: elderly population, medical facilities, accessibility, matching degree, Lanzhou City