Determining the entitlement to structural indicators of health by means of fuzzy AHP and TOPSIS: a case study in Sistan and Baluchestan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Health care section as an important social part of a community plays a determining role in people’s health and therefore all people must equally and purposefully enjoy health services and facilities; failure in this regard may lead to unpleasant consequences. Methods: The research is both applied and analytical which ranks the counties of Sistan and Baluchestan province in terms of entitlement to health structural indicators in 2011. Thus, 15 health structural indicators were selected and data were collected from Statistical Center of Iran. Experts’ opinions and FAHP technique were used to weight the indicators. Finally the counties ranked by TOPSIS technique. Data were analyzed using Excel, Expert Choice, and LINGO. Findings: FAHP’s results showed that indicator of health house workers (Behvarz) in health centers was more important and dentist indicator less important than other indicators. Besides, TOPSIS technique showed that Zahedan, Zabol, and Iranshahr were the highest and Delgan, Zaboli, and Sib and Suran were the least entitled counties, respectively. Conclusion: Based on our findings, there seems to be a huge gap between the counties of the province in terms of their entitlement to health structural indicators. It is therefore suggested that authorities of the health section set the priorities according to the counties’ entitlement to the indicators to remove inequalities in the province.

Keywords

• Structural indicators of health
• Case study
• Sistan and Baluchestan
• FAHP
• TOPSIS.