Evaluating tuberculosis service accessibility in Pakistan by analyzing population movement patterns from telecom mobility and survey data

Background

Geographic access to healthcare is considered in urban environments to aid strategic planning and evaluation of healthcare interventions. Evidence has shown that, in addition to geographic access, multiple factors influence the travel behavior of people seeking health services. Yet most studies have largely framed the issue from the perspective of how far people should travel, while few have explained how far people actually travel, thereby overlooking potential insights into travel behaviors.

Methods

In this research, we used in-person interviews, telecom mobility data, and spatial analysis to estimate people’s accessibility to TB service points in Pakistan. Characteristics of TB service points, including urbanicity, socio-economic class, and administrative province, were further analysed for their association with TB service accessibility. We compared the accessibility rates obtained from in-person interviews among people visiting TB service points with telecom mobility data to assess whether measured population movements to TB service points differ by data source.

Results

Our results show that significant variations in TB service accessibility are associated with administrative provinces, and the density of TB service points. We found a significant difference between the geographic accessibility measured by the two data sources across distance bands. We also found that relative, and not absolute, TB service accessibility is similar across both data sources, with a steeper decay curve in the interview data.

Conclusions

While telecom mobility data and survey data capture different population movement patterns, both provide insights which may help to align service availability with population needs and improve the well-being of the population.