spatial analysis and ranking of the health indicators using gis

abstractâ generally the level of development in different economic sections of a country is not the same as is in its regions, but heterogeneity and incongruity are seen in educational, health services, social services and welfare, agriculture and industry sections of a country. one of the issues and problems which regional planners are facing is the unequal growth and development of the areas, in a way that by taking a look at the spatial distribution of services in areas it is specified that, these services are not provided in a balance manner. therefore among the general criteria for regional planning program is classifying the regions based on enjoying different development indices. health services is deemed one of the main bases of development and providing health services in different areas reduces poverty, therefore develop the required conditions for the upbringing and growth of human capital and social and economic development in different regions of the country. the current study analyzes and classifies the health indicators of east azerbaijan province townships by using factor analysis and cluster analysis as well as using 22 health indicators. the dominant approach of this project is of descriptive and analytic as well as applied sort and arc / gis software has been used to provide the maps. the research findings show that the health care indicators in east azerbaijan province have not been distributed in a balance manner and a dramatic difference is seen among the cities of the province with regard to the development of health services. tabriz and jolfa are ranked at the highest and the lowest level respectively. the result of using factor analysis technique put the townships in 4 levels of over-developed, ultra-developed, mid-developed and infra-developed and tabriz is in over-developed and cities of azarshahr, bonab, jolfa, charavimaq, varzqan, haris, and hashtrood are in infra-developed level. using cluster analysis technique and drawing dendrogram graphs the townships of the province were classified in four homogeneous groups. finally, some suggestions are presented for improving deprived areas.