The Spatiality of COVID-19 in Kermanshah Metropolis, Iran

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic is a severe ongoing health crisisworldwide. Studying the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 can help policymakers develop successful pandemic management plans. This paper focuses on the spatial epidemiology of COVID-19 among different social classes in the Kermanshah metropolis, Iran. This cross-sectional study uses the data of people infected with COVID-19 in the Kermanshah metropolis in 2020, acquired from the official COVID-19 Registry of Kermanshah. The results show that 2013 people were infected with COVID-19 (male = 1164 and female = 849). The mean age of the patients was 45 ± 18.69. The Moran’s I show that COVID-19 in different social classes was clustered across the neighbourhoods in the Kermanshah metropolis. The mean ages of men and women were 44.51 ± 18.62 and 45.69 ± 18.76, respectively. Importantly, COVID-19 was highly prevalent in the middle-class groups. Age group comparisons indicate that older people were the most infected in poorer neighbourhoods. In the middle-classtheage group of 0–14 years and in the rich neighbourhoods the age group of 15–64 years were the most exposed to the disease. The findings of this study suggest that older people and lower socioeconomic classes should be prioritised while developing and implementing preventative programs for COVID-19 and similar pandemics.

Evaluating the access of slum residents to healthcare centers in Kermanshah Metropolis, Iran (1996–2016): A spatial justice analysis

“…The spatial patterns of poverty variables were evaluated separately for each neighbourhood. To assess the urban poverty across the statistical blocks, a combination of economic indexes (dependency burden, unemployment rate, male unemployment, general activity rate, employment ratio, gross dependency burden, dependency ratio, employment rate, net dependency burden, female unemployment, economic participation, women's participation in economic activities, overhead rate, livelihood burden, population economic burden), social indexes (youth population, aging rate, average household size), cultural indexes (literacy rate, illiteracy rate, illiteracy rate among, literacy rate among adults) and structural indices (population density, density of residential units, population density in residential units, gross density of residential units, the net density of residential units, household density in residential units, individual density in residential units, residential density of population, per capita net housing, per capita gross housing) [ 33 , 34 , 35 ] were considered and then classified into three groups of lower class, middle class and upper class. Information about health centres was collected from the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences.…”

Spatiotemporal clustering of suicide attempt in Kermanshah, West-Iran

“…According to the Census of Population and Housing in 2016, the population of Kermanshah was 1,952,434. This province consists of 14 townships, 30 districts, 29 cities, 85 hamlets, and 3,163 villages, and has 69.66% urban, and 30.15% rural population ( 47 ). Kermanshah has been facing several socioeconomic challenges including increased unemployment, poverty, cancer, and suicide, and inequality accessibility to healthcare centres among urban and rural areas ( 47 , 48 ).…”