Determining health care facility location at conflict areas with multi objective modeling: A case study in Syria İdleb

The Syrian Crisis began on 15 March 2011 and it is one of the bloodiest and complicated conflicts in the world today. Although more than eight years have passed over this tragedy, civilians continue to suffer from conflicts and destructions in the area. As a result, this situation disregards human life and the number of people in need increases day by day. Particularly, people who have to live in the conflict area encounter serious troubles with regard to health, shelter, food and other needs. Thus, in this study, we have focused on identifying the Primary Health Care Center (PHCC) locations within Idleb Governorate in Syria. Data is extracted from a sample containing 23 sub-districts in the governorate and a total of 338 communities. We have formulated a mixed integer-weighted goal programming model and combined it with Geographic Information System-GIS (ArcMap). The model is solved via an optimization package and moreover, sensitivity analyses are conducted to achieve a more in-depth study. Accordingly, the model's outputs and sensitivity analyses are expected to help decision-makers in case of such disasters. Key Words: Primary health care center (PHCC), Multi-objective model, Weighted goal programming, Geographic information system (GIS), Analytic hierarchy process (AHP)