A GIS based assessment of health infrastructure planning in Manafwa district

Abstract

Health is a fundamental human right and a key factor in the social and economic development of a country. This research focused on a Geographical Information Systems (GIS) based assessment of health infrastructure planning in Manafwa district. The main objective of this study was to assess how GIS can be used to improve health infrastructure planning in Manafwa district. The specific objectives were to establish the current spatial distribution of health infrastructure in Manafwa district; to examine factors that currently influence health infrastructure planning in Manafwa district, and to explore the integration of GIS into health infrastructure planning in Manafwa district. Various studies that examined the spatial distribution of health infrastructure facilities in Uganda observed that the major issue with healthcare in the country is not so much with the quality of services rendered but uneven distribution of health infrastructure facilities, which are often not easily accessible to those in need. This study adopted a descriptive research design as it describes the existing conditions and attitudes through observations, interpretation techniques and also because of its high degree of representativeness and the ease in which the researcher could obtain the research data. One hundred and sixty two (162) respondents were selected out of a population of one hundred and seventy six (176) possible respondents using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. The study used a questionnaire, interview schedule and Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys as primary data collection instruments supported by documentary review. The research revealed that more than 50% of the population in Manafwa District Local Government (DLG) does not have access to health infrastructure facilities and the population of the catchment area is the most important factor considered when planning for location of new health infrastructure facilities in the district. The third major finding of the study was that, despite GIS being an important method of determining suitable locations of health infrastructure facilities, it was not being used in Manafwa DLG. The study recommends that; Government of Uganda (GoU) through Ministry of Health (MoH), should consider constructing additional health infrastructure facilities in Manafwa DLG, all the factors that currently influence location of health infrastructure facilities should be put into consideration when planning location of new health infrastructure facilities within the district and finally retooling and capacity building in GIS technologies of district technical staff involved in health infrastructure planning should be carried out.