The Health GeoLab’s vision is for low- and middle- income countries in Asia and the Pacific fully benefit from the power of geography, geospatial data, and technologies to reach the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) by 2030.
To reach this vision, the Health GeoLab Hub focuses its activities on the following three main areas of work:
- In-country research (situation analysis and impact assessment), technical assistance (operationalization) and M&E
- Identify priority research areas and conduct of selected research activities as identified by international partners and Ministries of Health
- Identify, understand and document in-country situations, challenges, and needs
- Develop, validate, and apply robust methods and tools to address identified country challenges and needs
- Assess, validate, and improve existing methods and tools
- Provide technical assistance aligned with the HIS geo-enabling framework to address identified challenges and needs including M&E (under the leadership of the HGL-G). Examples:
- Myanmar: The Department of Public Health of the Ministry of Health and Sports of Myanmar has been the first country to implement the HIS geo-enabling framework to support the implementation of the National Health Plan (NHP) 2017–2021(Case study flyer; Story Map)
- Cambodia: The geo-enablement of the HIS took place as part of the implementation of the Health Information System Master Plan 2016-2020 under the umbrella of the Health Strategic Plan 2016-2020 (Story Map)
- Vietnam: A pilot project aiming to demonstrate the benefits of the geo-enablement to support the implementation of circular 54 was implemented between 2017 and 2018 (Story Map)
- Asses impact, and measure progress since the situation analysis
- Engagement, knowledge sharing, and transfer
- Establish and facilitate a global community of practice (Health GeoLab Network) with a focus on countries in the Asia Pacific region to exchange their expertise and knowledge with, and learn from, the rest of the world
- Organize regional event to help address countries’ specific challenges and needs
- Develop guidance material to improve the management and use of geospatial data and technologies in health. The material that has already been developed can be accessed here.
- Conduct and support analyses to monitor and evaluate strategies, programs, projects, tools, etc. in alignment with the HIS geo-enabling framework
- Training and capacity development
- Develop training materials, including new versions of the HIS geo-enabling course, to train current and future public health professionals and researchers on how to effectively manage and use geospatial data and technologies
- Conduct training activities for Ministries of Health and partners. Example of such training can be found here.