Abstract
Despite widespread use of Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to strengthening health systems, the application of GIS to health systems strengthening in resource-poor Sub-Saharan Africa remains rare. Over the June 2012 to December 2013 period, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) conducted a pilot application of GIS to health systems development in one rural impoverished district of the Upper East Region (UER). Workers were deployed to gather coordinates of health care facilities throughout the UER. Coordinates were linked to routine health information data, and utilized to generate maps for guiding task prioritization. For example, geocoded Community-based Management of Severe Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) program data were used to target services in communities where the prevalence of childhood acute malnutrition was relatively high. GIS was pivotal in tracking and responding to infectious disease morbidity from causes such as diarrheal diseases and tuberculosis. UER Regional Health Administration (RHA) authorities are currently utilizing GIS to map antenatal care coverage, skilled birth deliveries, neonatal mortality, still births, family planning service caseloads as well as for targeting programmatic action. Experience emerging from this trial attests to the value of GIS in contributing to efforts to strengthen health systems in rural impoverished regions of Africa.
Highlights
Efforts to improve health systems functionality require geographic data that visualize the areal distribution of the burden of disease
A global consensus has emerged that geographic information system (GIS) technology represents the most effective tool for achieving the goal of gathering, storing and visualizing retrievable data, providing managers with the ability to observe, analyze and target localities where resources are best deployed
Other infectious diseases that are rarely encountered elsewhere remain hyper-endemic in Sahelian Ghana: cholera,[5] malaria,[6] meningitis,[6] and helminthic infections such as schistosomiasis,[7] and filariasis.[8]
Summary
Eric Asuo-Mante 1,Abdul-Jaleel Mumuni[2], Myriam Asuo-Mante[3], Lawrence Yelifari[4], John Koku Awoonor-Williams[5], James F. 1. Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032 USA 2. University for Development Studies (UDS), Post Offcie Box TL 1350, Tamale, Ghana 3. Boston College Connell School of Nursing, Maloney Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467. Regional Health Directorate, Upper East Region, PMB- Bolgatanga, Ghana 5. Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana 6. Columbia University Medical Center, Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Mailman School of Public Health, 60 Haven Avenue, B-2 ,New York, NY 10032 USA
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