A spatial national health facility database for public health sector planning in Kenya in 2008

Abstract

BackgroundEfforts to tackle the enormous burden of ill-health in low-income countries are hampered by weak health information infrastructures that do not support appropriate planning and resource allocation. For health information systems to function well, a reliable inventory of health service providers is critical. The spatial referencing of service providers to allow their representation in a geographic information system is vital if the full planning potential of such data is to be realized.MethodsA disparate series of contemporary lists of health service providers were used to update a public health facility database of Kenya last compiled in 2003. These new lists were derived primarily through the national distribution of antimalarial and antiretroviral commodities since 2006. A combination of methods, including global positioning systems, was used to map service providers. These spatially-referenced data were combined with high-resolution population maps to analyze disparity in geographic access to public health care.FindingsThe updated 2008 database contained 5,334 public health facilities (67% ministry of health; 28% mission and nongovernmental organizations; 2% local authorities; and 3% employers and other ministries). This represented an overall increase of 1,862 facilities compared to 2003. Most of the additional facilities belonged to the ministry of health (79%) and the majority were dispensaries (91%). 93% of the health facilities were spatially referenced, 38% using global positioning systems compared to 21% in 2003. 89% of the population was within 5 km Euclidean distance to a public health facility in 2008 compared to 71% in 2003. Over 80% of the population outside 5 km of public health service providers was in the sparsely settled pastoralist areas of the country.ConclusionWe have shown that, with concerted effort, a relatively complete inventory of mapped health services is possible with enormous potential for improving planning. Expansion in public health care in Kenya has resulted in significant increases in geographic access although several areas of the country need further improvements. This information is key to future planning and with this paper we have released the digital spatial database in the public domain to assist the Kenyan Government and its partners in the health sector.

Monitoring service delivery for universal health coverage: the Service Availability and Readiness Assessment

“…Several issues concerning methodology -with potential variations across countries and over time -should be borne in mind. In places where the master facility list is sufficiently complete and up to date, as is the case in Kenya, 22 strong multi-stakeholder coordinating groups or regulatory bodies for the licensing of health facilities have been established through various national institutes, including national statistical offices, mapping agencies and in-country partners. In other countries, however, maintaining the master facility list continues to be difficult.…”

Coverage of routine reporting on malaria parasitological testing in Kenya, 2015–2016

“…Fixed service providers are broadly classified into three tiers that support community-level care, increasing in complexity of service provision and staff mixes, from dispensaries/clinics to health centres to hospitals [15,17]. The private sector has grown significantly over the last two decades, however, enumerating and regulating this sector has remained a challenge [18,19]. Unlike the public sector, investments in the capacity of facilities in the private sector to provide any routine data and or better-quality routine data has been lacking [11].…”

“…This was the first time a map of health service providers had been developed since 1959 [21]. The exercise was repeated using updated information in 2008 [18] and led to the first iteration of MoH’s Kenya master health facility list (KMHFL) in 2009. The KMHFL consists of all health facilities and community units in Kenya with each identified with a unique code with details of administrative location, ownership, type and the services offered.…”

GPS & GIS In Road Accident Mapping And Emergency Response Management

“…One is health facilities data from Kenya open data platform which was downloaded on December 2015 at (https://opendata.go.ke). The second health facility database was obtained from the list compiled by (Noor et al 2009). The two sources were cross checked for any inconsistencies especially for the Nairobi area, and one final list of health facilities was obtained.…”