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Web Mapping Examples

Case Study: GIS and VMMC in Tanzania

Covering the Last Kilometer: Using GIS to Scale-Up Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Services in Tanzania

by Hally Mahler, Sarah Searle, Marya Plotkin, Yusuph Kulindwa, Seth Greenberg, Erick Mlanga, Emmanuel Njeuhmeli, and Gissenje Lijae

Global Health Science and Practice (2015)

Purpose of the article

This article describes the Tanzania VMMC program’s evolving use of geographic information systems (GIS) technology to strategically plan and implement outreach campaigns in order to extend VMMC services to remote rural areas and achieve rapid scale-up.

Figure 1. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Focus Regions in Tanzania. Map image adapted from Sémhur/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0.

Figure 1. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Focus Regions in Tanzania. Map image adapted from Sémhur/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-3.0.

The authors describe two phases of mapping:

  1. Static maps
  2. Interactive maps

Static Maps

Figure 2. Maps Used to Plan 2012 Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Outreach Campaign, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania

Figure 2. Maps Used to Plan 2012 Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Outreach Campaign, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania

Figure 3. Map of Total Population Layered With Number of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions Performed, by Ward, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, April 2012

Figure 3. Map of Total Population Layered With Number of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions Performed, by Ward, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, April 2012

Figure 4. Map of Male Population Ages 10-49 Layered With Number of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions (VMMCs) Performed, by Ward, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, August 2013

Figure 4. Map of Male Population Ages 10-49 Layered With Number of Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions (VMMCs) Performed, by Ward, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, August 2013

Limitations of static maps

  1. Display a restricted amount of information
  2. Require time and specialized skills to update
  3. Infrequently updated

Interactive Web Maps

  1. Allow for interaction with data on the map
    • Zoom in, click on features, view selected data
  2. Turn different data on/off, compare data
  3. Can incorporate detailed data (e.g. satellite imagery)
  4. Can dynamically update
Figure 5. Interactive Map Displaying Information on Manda Health Centre Site, Njombe Region, Tanzania

Figure 5. Interactive Map Displaying Information on Manda Health Centre Site, Njombe Region, Tanzania

Figure 6. Interactive Map Displaying Satellite Imagery of Facility Layout

Figure 6. Interactive Map Displaying Satellite Imagery of Facility Layout

Figure 7. Interactive Map of Facilities Performing 0-1,000 Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions (VMMCs) and Quality of Roads. VMMCs by facility shown as yellow (no VMMCs) and pink (<1,000 VMMCs) circles.

Figure 7. Interactive Map of Facilities Performing 0-1,000 Voluntary Medical Male Circumcisions (VMMCs) and Quality of Roads. VMMCs by facility shown as yellow (no VMMCs) and pink (<1,000 VMMCs) circles.

Limitations of interactive web maps

  1. Software service agreements may hinder data privacy
  2. Difficult to ensure data security in cloud-based systems
  3. Require Internet connection

Conclusion

The use of GIS to collect and analyze the geographic distribution of the focus population, along with the availability of VMMC services in previously unreached areas, enabled more effective scale-up to rural lower-level health facilities by providing project staff with data that could be used to identify ideal sites for outreach.

Figure 8. Percentage of VMMCs Performed in Urban Versus Rural Health Facilities and Total Number of Health Facilities Reached, by Fiscal Year, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, 2010-2014.

Figure 8. Percentage of VMMCs Performed in Urban Versus Rural Health Facilities and Total Number of Health Facilities Reached, by Fiscal Year, Iringa and Njombe Regions, Tanzania, 2010-2014.

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