A Study of the Application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Children Access to Pharmacies: A Case Study of Kermanshah, West of Iran

Background Adequate access to health services has tremendous effects on the usefulness and efficiency of health care. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the access of girls under the age of 14 years old to pharmacies in Kermanshah, Iran. Materials and Methods In this cross-sectional study, the access of <14 years old girls to pharmacies in Kermanshah city, Iran, was investigated. The study population included 81,450 girls under the age of 14 years. The latest published population statistics on the Population Census in 2011 (Iran) were used as the basis for the analyses, and the information about the public and private pharmacies were collected from the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Also, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) program was used for data analysis. Results In terms of access to 25 pharmacies through walking, the findings revealed that lacked access as much as 48.83%. In terms of access to daytime pharmacies through walking, 88.05% had improper access. Furthermore, in terms of access to 25 pharmacies through driving, the results were as follows: with five minutes of driving (24.75% no access), with 10 minutes of driving (9.07% no access), and with 15 minutes of driving (1.97% no access). As for access to daytime pharmacies through driving, the results were as follows: with five minutes of driving (5.42% no access), with 10 minutes of driving (2.15% no access). Conclusion The results of the present study demonstrated that the access for girls under the age of 14 years to pharmacies through walking was in poor condition. However, it was found out that access through driving was much better than access through walking.