EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

1054. A web-based decision support interface for the assessment and optimisation of physical access to humanitarian site locations

Invited abstract in session WD-55: Decision Support for Complex Humanitarian Crises, stream Humanitarian Operations.

Wednesday, 14:30-16:00
Room: Liberty 1.09

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Andries Heyns
Médecins Sans Frontières UK/Ireland
2. Jose Luis Alvarez
Epidemiology and Public Health, Doctors Wihtout Borders
3. Kit Daniel Searle
School of Maths, University of Edinburgh

Abstract

Humanitarian interventions often occur in environments with limited transport infrastructure and challenging terrain. In these contexts — where people may travel hours or days to reach services — evaluating access to services in terms of travel time is crucial. This helps identify service coverage gaps and can aid in the identification of future site locations. Example services include health clinics, vaccination points, shelters, water and sanitation points, and distribution centres.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK/Ireland is developing a web-based decision support interface that leverages an advanced accessibility model. The interface automates data collection and processing, providing realistic travel time estimates that almost anyone can use. Alternative tools for such analyses require specialised expertise and data, making them inaccessible to many humanitarian decision-makers.

The platform can simulate service accessibility “shocks” from disasters or political events that impact travel behaviour. Furthermore, a multi-objective genetic algorithm is incorporated to optimise new site locations — maximising population coverage while minimising travel effort. Using novel strategies for dealing with large datasets, it optimises the placement of between M and N new sites with a variable-length chromosome approach.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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