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.