Distribuição da rede de oferta de serviços de saúde na região norte: uma análise espacial multivariada

The goal of this paper is to analyze the spatial localization of health services supply at Brazilian north region. At Amazon region, where distances among localities are huge and the transport system has deficiencies, the supply of health infra-structure and human resources are crucial issues to identify the planning possibilities in order to improve the access to those services. We used municipal data on equipments, physical installations and human resources from Pesquisa de Assistência Médico-Sanitária 2002 (AMS). The urban network identification was held due to multivariate analysis, specifically cluster analysis. The clusters spatial association was tested by Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). The results point to an unevenly distributed urban network of health services, concentrated on region's most important cities as Manaus and Belém. We could also realize the existence of big areas of absolute deficiencies in all kind of infrastructure - even those of primary attention - and an unfilled urban system, lacking central places of intermediate hierarchy.