DANLEP experiences in GIS and HMIS

In India, Danida is assisting the National Leprosy Eradication Programme (NLEP) and Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). For an effective decision-making and planning of these health projects, DANLEP has already started using GIS together with its HMIS. A brief description of the programmes is presented here to underline the quantum and extent of the projects.

Danida started assisting the NLEP programme from 1986 in three states viz, Madhya Pradesh, Tamilnadu and Orissa. The objective of the programme is to eliminate leprosy by the year 2000 through Multi Drug Therapy (MDT). MDT services include detection, treatment, management of complications and health education. In India, since these services are provided by a vertical service, delivery is becoming less and less cost effective. Hence it is inevitable that the functions absorbed by the general health care delivery system.

As a pilot study, the health facility and Drug Delivery Points (DDP) mapping of entire Madhya Pradesh has been taken up on a scale of 1:250,000, which is generally accepted as the regional planning scale. Apart from the district boundaries for all the 45 districts, all the new block boundaries are also captured. Other layers of the database include road and rail network, settlements, rivers, demarcated forests and over thirty thousand village points.

Each of these villages is given a unique identification number, which is in turn used to attach the data. To this GIS data in Arc/info format the data from the local health staff has been attached. The data was collected district wise for the village points (primarily captured from the census book). As many as ten categories of health facilities and DDPs have been identified and attached. Patient population data at respective villages has also been attached. The end map consists of the health infrastructure with physical structure of the district, DDPs and patient population. These outputs are being used to identify areas where improvement measures are required and areas where relocation of resources is necessary.

With the PHCs and other health facilities available in the database, it can also be effectively used for the integration of the programme at the end of the final phase of the project. Since the health data is primarily represented in terms of an administrative unit of a health facility, other health parameters can be easily attached to this database at minimal costs.

Shajapur district of Madhya Pradesh is represented as an example of the GIS methodology described above.

A pictorial representation of the health infrastructure and patient load of Shajapur district is represented in the following maps.

LEP Overview: Shajapur Dist. (MP) District Profile

LEP Overview Shajapur Dist. (MP) Health Infrastructure

LEP Overview Shajapur Dist. (MP)

Similar studies are also being carried out for Orissa and Tamil Nadu. The database prepared is being also used for other projects like watershed planning and the area health project.