Equity of pediatric diagnosis and treatment hospital allocation from the perspective of supply and demand: a case study from Shanghai, China

Abstract

It has become a consensus to promote a balanced and equitable distribution of regional medical and health facilities, and hospitals that provide paediatric care are an important place and the last line of defence in safeguarding children’s health. However, problems such as uneven distribution of medical resources and poor accessibility to nearby services are common. In order to understand whether there is equity in the allocation of paediatric hospitals, from the perspective of ‘supply and demand’, taking into account the spatial distribution and supply of hospitals, as well as the distribution of children and their demand, to explores whether there is an imbalance between the supply and demand for resources in different regions.