A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]
Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities have, in some countries, 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...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wellcome
2021-02-01
|
Series: | Wellcome Open Research |
Online Access: | https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-157/v2 |
id |
doaj-227b19e8dbbb4953b64e79879aaa16c7 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-227b19e8dbbb4953b64e79879aaa16c72021-02-22T16:43:00ZengWellcomeWellcome Open Research2398-502X2021-02-01510.12688/wellcomeopenres.16075.218296A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved]Andy South0Ahmadou Dicko1Mark Herringer2Peter M. Macharia3Joseph Maina4Emelda A. Okiro5Robert W. Snow6Anelda van der Walt7Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UKSTATS4D, Dakar, SenegalThe Global Healthsites Mapping Project, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsPopulation Health Unit, Kenya Medical Research Institute - Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, KenyaInternational Organization for Migration, Nairobi, KenyaPopulation Health Unit, Kenya Medical Research Institute - Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, KenyaPopulation Health Unit, Kenya Medical Research Institute - Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi, KenyaTalarify, Kleinmond, South AfricaBackground: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities have, in some countries, 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 R 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 open 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 52 African countries, seven currently 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: These summaries and software tools can be used to 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.https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-157/v2 |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Andy South Ahmadou Dicko Mark Herringer Peter M. Macharia Joseph Maina Emelda A. Okiro Robert W. Snow Anelda van der Walt |
spellingShingle |
Andy South Ahmadou Dicko Mark Herringer Peter M. Macharia Joseph Maina Emelda A. Okiro Robert W. Snow Anelda van der Walt A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] Wellcome Open Research |
author_facet |
Andy South Ahmadou Dicko Mark Herringer Peter M. Macharia Joseph Maina Emelda A. Okiro Robert W. Snow Anelda van der Walt |
author_sort |
Andy South |
title |
A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
title_short |
A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
title_full |
A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
title_fullStr |
A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
title_full_unstemmed |
A reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa and R tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
title_sort |
reproducible picture of open access health facility data in africa and r tools to support improvement [version 2; peer review: 2 approved, 1 approved with reservations, 1 not approved] |
publisher |
Wellcome |
series |
Wellcome Open Research |
issn |
2398-502X |
publishDate |
2021-02-01 |
description |
Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities have, in some countries, 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 R 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 open 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 52 African countries, seven currently 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: These summaries and software tools can be used to 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. |
url |
https://wellcomeopenresearch.org/articles/5-157/v2 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT andysouth areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT ahmadoudicko areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT markherringer areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT petermmacharia areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT josephmaina areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT emeldaaokiro areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT robertwsnow areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT aneldavanderwalt areproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT andysouth reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT ahmadoudicko reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT markherringer reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT petermmacharia reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT josephmaina reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT emeldaaokiro reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT robertwsnow reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved AT aneldavanderwalt reproduciblepictureofopenaccesshealthfacilitydatainafricaandrtoolstosupportimprovementversion2peerreview2approved1approvedwithreservations1notapproved |
_version_ |
1724256348930048000 |