HealthMap
In 1993, the WHO/UNICEF Joint Programme on Health Mapping & GIS (HealthMap) was created to service the mapping and monitoring needs of the Dracunculiasis Eradication Programme. The objective was to assist national eradication programmes in the establishment and use of a geographic information system (GIS) for strengthened disease monitoring and eradication activities. The GIS is based on the accurate mapping of all former and current endemic villages in Africa and the development of epidemiological and programmatic maps for use at national and local levels. The maps enable the easy visualization of the results of the village-based surveillance system and allow for a better assessment of the location and magnitude of problems. The maps also highlight where operational outreach activities for case containment must be strengthened, where there still remains a need for safe water supply, and where health education sessions could be intensified through a school based approach.
Endemic villages are shown proportional in size to the number of cases (dark black filled circles). Also displayed is the distribution of safe water supply (functional boreholes and protected wells) in each village in the district (empty triangles). At a glance, one can see those endemic villages which did not have access to safe water at end December 1999.
During 1997, the use of GIS was simplified through the development of a customized data entry and mapping application for the national co-coordinators. The new application allows national programme managers simply and directly to enter the monthly surveillance data and automatically view those results in the form of epidemiological maps. Historical maps showing annual incidence at village level can also be viewed automatically with the application. These maps and associated databases will greatly facilitate the certification process when countries on reaching eradication will be required to present precise historical dossiers on all previously endemic areas.
Use of the system requires no specialized training or software and has been distributed free of charge to all national co-coordinators on diskette and CD-ROM. Dynamic maps of the dracunculiasis situation in most endemic countries can now also be accessed and viewed on the Internet.
