Geospatial Technology for Health System Strengthening

Abstract

The authors of this paper understand the term Health System to be the collection of elements (people, institutions, and resources) that contribute toward the health of individuals and communities, arrived at by the marriage of the normative definitions of Health and System. The World Health Organization developed a Health Systems Framework that includes six building blocks: service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing, and leadership/governance. Each building block with its corresponding influence on health outcomes, is additionally influenced by contextual factors from the built and natural environments and society. This paper explores the potential for geospatial technology to strengthen health systems using an adaptation and expansion of the WHO Health System Framework. Geospatial technology has been used widely to collect, process, analyze, and visualize location-based data for many industries, including health. Even so, the COVID-19 pandemic inspired rapid increased uptake of this technology in the health care community. The objective of this work was to review new and existing geospatial apps and solutions, developed by the global leader in geospatial technology ESRI, as prospective tools for supporting health system strengthening.