A tuberculosis elimination-focused geospatial approach to optimising access to diagnostic GeneXpert machines in Fiji.
Trop Med Int Health
; 29(8): 715-722, 2024 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38837811
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
Fiji could be the first country to eliminate tuberculosis. To inform this strategy, we aimed to identify how many GeneXpert® machines are required to enable over 90% of Fijians to be within one-hour easy access.METHODS:
We used Geographic Information System (Quantum GIS; QGIS), OpenStreetMap and population data (Kontur) to map possible facilities in relation to QGIS generated 60-min drive-time isochrones, with correction for missing road data. For outer islands, we calculated a distance to nearest hub operation.RESULTS:
The solution comprised 24 GeneXpert® machines, allocating 7 GeneXpert® to Viti Levu, 6 GeneXpert® to Vanua Levu and 11 to other islands. This resulted in 827,810 people, 93.6% of Fiji's population, being within 1 h of a machine. Twenty-one thousand four hundred seventy-nine people on outer islands were an average of 43 km by water from the nearest facility.CONCLUSIONS:
We conclude that over 90% of Fijians could be within an hour of a GeneXpert® machine with placement of 24 machines.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Tuberculosis
/
Geographic Information Systems
/
Health Services Accessibility
Limits:
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
Trop Med Int Health
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article