# Optimizing the Access to Healthcare Services in Dense Refugee Hosting Urban Areas: A Case for Istanbul

## TL;DR

This paper assesses and proposes improvements to the placement of healthcare facilities in Istanbul to enhance access for the large refugee population, using call data records to identify infrastructure gaps.

## Contribution

It introduces a data-driven approach to optimize healthcare facility locations specifically for refugees in Istanbul, addressing infrastructure and access challenges.

## Key findings

- Identified underserved areas lacking healthcare infrastructure
- Proposed optimized locations for Migrant Health Centers
- Demonstrated improved access potential through location adjustments

## Abstract

With over 3.5 million refugees, Turkey continues to host the world's largest refugee population. This introduced several challenges in many areas including access to healthcare system. Refugees have legal rights to free healthcare services in Turkey's public hospitals. With the aim of increasing healthcare access for refugees, we looked at where the lack of infrastructure is felt the most. Our study attempts to address these problems by assessing whether Migrant Health Centers' locations are optimal. The aim of this study is to improve refugees' access to healthcare services in Istanbul by improving the locations of health facilities available to them. We used call data records provided by Turk Telekom.