Retos y problemas de la accesibilidad a servicios en zonas despobladas: un caso en la provincia de Teruel (España)

Abstract

Rural services provision, specially in underpopulated and remote areas like Teruel province, comes as a challenge for policy makers as far as building a long-term sustanaible future for them. In this paper we examine the geographical accesiblity to health services in rural areas through the analysis and cartography of aggregated time-distances to health centers in 323 rural communities. The results confirm the efficiency of the actual pattern of provision, with most of the population enjoying a good accesibility to basic health services. The problem appears for a small amount of the population: scarce, old and scattered into an extensive territory. Some proposals are introduced at the end of the paper in order to develop strategies that meet the needs of those people.