Home > Research > Publications & Outputs > A rapid and reproducible picture of open access...

Links

Text available via DOI:

View graph of relations

A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published

Standard

A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response. / South, Andy; Dicko, Ahmadou; Herringer, Mark et al.
In: Wellcome Open Research, Vol. 5, 157, 16.02.2021.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Harvard

South, A, Dicko, A, Herringer, M, Macharia, PM, Maina, J, Okiro, EA, Snow, RW & van der Walt, A 2021, 'A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response', Wellcome Open Research, vol. 5, 157. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1

APA

South, A., Dicko, A., Herringer, M., Macharia, P. M., Maina, J., Okiro, E. A., Snow, R. W., & van der Walt, A. (2021). A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response. Wellcome Open Research, 5, Article 157. https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1

Vancouver

South A, Dicko A, Herringer M, Macharia PM, Maina J, Okiro EA et al. A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response. Wellcome Open Research. 2021 Feb 16;5:157. doi: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1

Author

South, Andy ; Dicko, Ahmadou ; Herringer, Mark et al. / A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response. In: Wellcome Open Research. 2021 ; Vol. 5.

Bibtex

@article{04050584e2c347ebbb6cc16ba6ca6b1f,
title = "A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response",
abstract = "Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities in some countries have allowed the development of software tools contributing to COVID-19 response. The UN and WHO encourage countries to make health facility location data open, to encourage use and improvement. We provide a summary of open access health facility location data in Africa using re-useable code. We aim to support data analysts developing software tools to address COVID-19 response in individual countries. In Africa there are currently three main sources of such data; 1) direct from national ministries of health, 2) a database for sub-Saharan Africa collated and published by a team from KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and now hosted by WHO, and 3) The Global Healthsites Mapping Project in collaboration with OpenStreetMap. Methods: We searched for and documented official national facility location data that were openly available. We developed re-useable open-source R code to summarise and visualise facility location data by country from the three sources. This re-useable code is used to provide a web user interface allowing data exploration through maps and plots of facility type. Results: Out of 53 African countries, seven provide an official open facility list that can be downloaded and analysed reproducibly. Considering all three sources, there are over 185,000 health facility locations available for Africa. However, there are differences and overlaps between sources and a lack of data on capacities and service provision. Conclusions: We suggest that these summaries and tools will encourage greater use of existing health facility location data, incentivise further improvements in the provision of those data by national suppliers, and encourage collaboration within wider data communities. The tools are a part of the afrimapr project, actively developing R building blocks to facilitate the use of health data in Africa.",
keywords = "Africa, COVID-19, GIS, Health, Master Facility List, Open Data, R",
author = "Andy South and Ahmadou Dicko and Mark Herringer and Macharia, {Peter M.} and Joseph Maina and Okiro, {Emelda A.} and Snow, {Robert W.} and {van der Walt}, Anelda",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
day = "16",
doi = "10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1",
language = "English",
volume = "5",
journal = "Wellcome Open Research",
issn = "2398-502X",
publisher = "F1000 Research Ltd.",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response

AU - South, Andy

AU - Dicko, Ahmadou

AU - Herringer, Mark

AU - Macharia, Peter M.

AU - Maina, Joseph

AU - Okiro, Emelda A.

AU - Snow, Robert W.

AU - van der Walt, Anelda

PY - 2021/2/16

Y1 - 2021/2/16

N2 - Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities in some countries have allowed the development of software tools contributing to COVID-19 response. The UN and WHO encourage countries to make health facility location data open, to encourage use and improvement. We provide a summary of open access health facility location data in Africa using re-useable code. We aim to support data analysts developing software tools to address COVID-19 response in individual countries. In Africa there are currently three main sources of such data; 1) direct from national ministries of health, 2) a database for sub-Saharan Africa collated and published by a team from KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and now hosted by WHO, and 3) The Global Healthsites Mapping Project in collaboration with OpenStreetMap. Methods: We searched for and documented official national facility location data that were openly available. We developed re-useable open-source R code to summarise and visualise facility location data by country from the three sources. This re-useable code is used to provide a web user interface allowing data exploration through maps and plots of facility type. Results: Out of 53 African countries, seven provide an official open facility list that can be downloaded and analysed reproducibly. Considering all three sources, there are over 185,000 health facility locations available for Africa. However, there are differences and overlaps between sources and a lack of data on capacities and service provision. Conclusions: We suggest that these summaries and tools will encourage greater use of existing health facility location data, incentivise further improvements in the provision of those data by national suppliers, and encourage collaboration within wider data communities. The tools are a part of the afrimapr project, actively developing R building blocks to facilitate the use of health data in Africa.

AB - Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities in some countries have allowed the development of software tools contributing to COVID-19 response. The UN and WHO encourage countries to make health facility location data open, to encourage use and improvement. We provide a summary of open access health facility location data in Africa using re-useable code. We aim to support data analysts developing software tools to address COVID-19 response in individual countries. In Africa there are currently three main sources of such data; 1) direct from national ministries of health, 2) a database for sub-Saharan Africa collated and published by a team from KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and now hosted by WHO, and 3) The Global Healthsites Mapping Project in collaboration with OpenStreetMap. Methods: We searched for and documented official national facility location data that were openly available. We developed re-useable open-source R code to summarise and visualise facility location data by country from the three sources. This re-useable code is used to provide a web user interface allowing data exploration through maps and plots of facility type. Results: Out of 53 African countries, seven provide an official open facility list that can be downloaded and analysed reproducibly. Considering all three sources, there are over 185,000 health facility locations available for Africa. However, there are differences and overlaps between sources and a lack of data on capacities and service provision. Conclusions: We suggest that these summaries and tools will encourage greater use of existing health facility location data, incentivise further improvements in the provision of those data by national suppliers, and encourage collaboration within wider data communities. The tools are a part of the afrimapr project, actively developing R building blocks to facilitate the use of health data in Africa.

KW - Africa

KW - COVID-19

KW - GIS

KW - Health

KW - Master Facility List

KW - Open Data

KW - R

U2 - 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1

DO - 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.1

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33437875

AN - SCOPUS:85099727662

VL - 5

JO - Wellcome Open Research

JF - Wellcome Open Research

SN - 2398-502X

M1 - 157

ER -