Nigeria Health and Mapping Summit 2011 Summary
Enlisting National Mapping Agencies in Improving Health Outcomes
In October of 2011, the Federal Government of Nigeria (including the HIV Division of the Department of Public Health of the Federal Ministry of Health, National Population Commission [NPopC], Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation [OSGOF], and National Space Research and Development Agency [NASRDA]), collaborated with MEASURE Evaluation (with assistance from USAID and PEPFAR) to organize this conference in Abuja. The conference marked the first time in Africa that government representatives from the health and mapping sectors have met at the country level to harmonize efforts to improve health outcomes through more effective leveraging of the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NGDI). This represented a continuation of the collaboration that was launched in April 2009 at the CODIST pre-conference workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The conference drew 120 participants from the health and mapping sectors, including implementing partners, training institutions, the National Planning Commission, and media.
Meeting Objectives
- Facilitate cooperation between Nigeria’s health and mapping sectors in the fight against HIV/AIDS and related health and social service challenges
- Increase awareness and sharing of geospatial resources within Nigeria to enhance decision making for health sector programs
- Identify challenges to development of the NGDI and create an action plan to help address them
- Provide a model for other countries to follow
Summit Overview
Keynote Address
Geospatial Resource Sharing and National Spatial Data Infrastructure Development within the Context of the Nation’s Transformation Agenda
Presentations
- Brief Overview by Kola Oyediran and James Stewart
- GIS and Primary Health care in Nigeria by Dr. Odu Emmanuel
- The Use of GIS Mapping to Determine the Distribution of Accredited Health Care Facilities in NHIS by S. A. B. Indabawa
- Mapping HIV/AIDS Services in Nigeria by Dr. Aderemi Azeez
- Service Availability Mapping NHMIS Unit, FMOH Experience by Balogun Adeleke
- Towards Creating a Standard Format for Geospatial Data Collection, Analysis, and Dissemination for Improved Health and Socioeconomic Policy by Alfa Mohammed
- Nigeria in Space – An Impetus for Improved Health Outcomes by Ganiy I. Agbaje, Ph.D.
- Office of the Surveyor General of the Federation
- Geospatial Resources Maintained Versus Needed at RECTAS and Major SDI Challenges by Professor Isi Ikhuoria
- The Experience of Some Countries with Good Spatial Data Infrastructure Linked with Effective and Improved Social Services in the Health Sector by Ademola Omojola
Group Work
Group worksheet, facilitator instructions, and geospatial questionnaire
Results
- Identification of the main issues affecting Nigeria’s ability to improve health outcomes by coordinating various efforts in the health and NGDI sectors.
- Drafting of a Summit Communique that would be presented to the executive and legislative arms of the government, as well as relevant stakeholders (e.g., donors and ministerial agencies), with the intent of improving the NGDI needed to combat HIV/AIDS and related health and social service challenges.
- Documentation of the Nigeria Summit Planning Process to provide the foundation for development of a template that can be used by other countries.” This will obviate the need for the Summit Information section
