AMORE Project

We are a participatory intersectoral research project aiming to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by addressing equity in accessibility (travel times) to essential health services. In many metropolitan areas, traffic congestion significantly increases travel times to essential services—particularly healthcare—creating structural barriers that exacerbate inequities and hinder progress toward the SDGs. However, urban and health service planning rarely considers these impacts, mainly due to a lack of actionable, equity-focused metrics that consider traffic congestion. The AMORE Project addresses this gap by engaging civil society, public officials, and scientists in co-designing and testing an interactive, web-based tool that integrates open and big data to assess the impact of traffic on accessibility to emergency care and ongoing treatments for high-cost diseases. The platform presents findings through heat maps and intuitive visuals to foster intersectoral dialogue, community engagement, and evidence-based decision-making. Collaborators have shared the results with stakeholders and the public. Proof-of-concept testing in Cali, Colombia, revealed that traffic congestion disproportionately impacts low-income and marginalized communities and that strategically placing services can significantly improve equity. The project has already influenced public policy and urban planning in Cali. Together with our partners, we strive to implement metrics sensitive to traffic congestion and equity and to adapt, replicate, and scale this approach in other highly congested urban areas.