Geographic Information Systems

Data Source: Revising the Costed National MVC Programme, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, 2007

MEASURE Evaluation provides guidance and technical assistance in using and adapting geographic information systems (GIS) to governments, NGOs, and other decision-makers around the world. MEASURE Evaluation has produced standardized protocols for the collection of locations using the global positioning system (GPS), and has lead the MEASURE GIS Working Group, a group made up of MEASURE partners that meets to improve collaboration and communication regarding the use of GIS. 

GIS has been a valuable tool assisting MEASURE Evaluation in identifying areas with high HIV prevalence and limited service availability in Tanzania, creating an inventory of health facilities in the Caribbean, and other projects.

GIS has become an increasingly important tool for public health M&E. Maps created using GIS have the potential to help managers of health districts, project planners, and funders make decisions that will improve the state of global health care. MEASURE Evaluation is committed to providing these stakeholders with the best possible GIS.

Slums of Urban Bangladesh

MEASURE Evaluation collaborated with the Centre for Urban Studies to map the slums surrounding the six largest cities in Bangladesh in 2005. Researchers identified and collected data from more than 9,000 slums, and then used GIS to produce detailed maps that mark each slum’s geographic boundaries, population size and distribution, water sources, legal status, and other information. These comprehensive maps will enable policymakers to target slum populations with far more efficiency and precision than in the past.

Orphans and Vulnerable Children

MEASURE Evaluation has worked with key decision makers in Haiti, Vietnam, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia to create maps locating populations of orphan and vulnerable children (OVC) populations, as well as health facilities and aid services that can help these children. MEASURE Evaluation will also provide guidance to help strengthen OVC data infrastructures and use those data to make better decisions.

Mapping Health Service Availability in Nicaragua

The Nicaraguan Health Facility Survey (NHFS) mapped the location of and recorded characteristics of every health facility in Nicaragua. MEASURE Evaluation researchers inputted these data into a GIS and used a new data analysis technique, Kernal Density Estimation (KDE), to calculate accurate ratios of health facilities and facility staff members to nearby populations. In addition to uncovering important salient features of Nicaragua’s health system, this study provides new validation and testing of KDE in the public health setting.