In partnership with Marie Stopes Senegal, the project worked with the Matam regional health authority to map out maternity healthcare services. Healthcare partners in Senegal have been facing challenges in accessing reliable datasets on health facilities, community access, vaccination campaigns, and more. Through its partners, the Sunnu Wer Gi Yaram project provided the necessary data to support Marie Stopes and the Ministry of Health in enhancing their programs and community health services in the Matam region of Senegal.

Objective

During the Ebola Virus Disease and COVID-19 pandemics, healthcare systems were put under immense pressure, particularly in Western Africa. These outbreaks exposed healthcare systems’ difficulties in obtaining crucial information on facilities, services, and healthcare practitioners. Pregnant women and young children, in particular, require special attention and often encounter significant obstacles when trying to access healthcare services.

In the region, surveillance, monitoring(recovery, outbreaks), emergency preparedness, disease prevention, research, data and analysis, communication, and health promotion notably need a lot of support due to the lack of resources, adequate information, and technical expertise.

Access to quality healthcare services in Senegal is mainly limited to urban areas, leaving rural populations with inadequate access to primary healthcare. The cost of healthcare is also a factor that affects the sector, as it is expensive to locate health facilities, and there is a scarcity of drugs and personnel and a shortage of specialized doctors. This makes it difficult for low-income earners to access healthcare services due to the high cost of limited treatment.

HOT’s Open Mapping Hub in the West and North African region collaborated with Marie Stopes, OSM Senegal, and health authorities in the Matam region to train healthcare providers in collecting data and developing healthcare maps to enhance communities’ access to information and services. These maps are helping decision-makers provide adequate healthcare services in rural areas.

The collection of accurate data and mapping of information on the overall healthcare system significantly contribute to decision-making, demand for better service delivery, and care for a highly exposed segment of society, i.e. women.

The project successfully achieved its objectives by adopting an inclusive and participatory approach from the national to the local levels.

• Stakeholders were provided training in project methodologies and tools to enhance their capacity.
• The project gathered data on health facilities, roads, health hazards, disease outbreaks, and vaccination campaigns, including drug supply, healthcare records, power, staffing, drug dispensation, water access, solid waste management, and more.
• Project data is being used to create data products such as datasets and maps that support supply chain management and drug dispensation and ensure that public health facilities services are readily available to all region inhabitants and beyond.
• Establish partnerships with key stakeholders to implement practical interventions based on the project’s findings and recommendations.

Approach

What methodologies did we use?

• Stakeholders mapping, engagements, and Workshops
• Remote mapping and field data collection
• Data analysis and map product development
• Capacity building of technical stakeholders and local community youth

What tools were used:

• Tasking Manager - was used for remote mapping activity
• Central Server - ODK Central server was used to authenticate store data
• JOSM- was used for data cleaning and validation
• Quantum GIS - QGIS was used for data analysis and visualization
• Open DataKit - was used for field data collection What datasets were collected, etc.

What datasets were collected: Maternity information (drug distribution, patients, doctors, schedules) Health facilities (building, type, power, water, management, solid waste management, etc) infrastructure (clinics, pharmacies, health boxes, health posts, hospitals) Place names Roads and waterways

Based on the data use cases and needs, information related to maternity treatment were collected. These datasets were cleaned, analyzed, and provided to Marie Stopes and the Health Authority of the Matam Region. Only non-identifiable datasets were uploaded to OSM and included in the general maps developed.

Outcome and Impact

The project contributed:

• 93,286 buildings,
• 1,803 KM2 of roads
• 2 hospitals,
• 6 health centers
• 104 health posts
• 68 health boxes
• 2 clinics
• 28 pharmacies

Next Steps and Lessons Learned

Marie Stopes and the Regional health authority of Matam are supporting the regional healthcare programs based on the datasets and information provided by the project.

The success of this project was mainly due to Marie Stopes’s involvement as a key healthcare provider and the buy-in from the local healthcare authority. Crucial factors for achieving success include planning, executing, and communicating promptly. All stakeholders took on some form of responsibility for the project and supported every aspect of its implementation.