Geographic information system and information visualization capacity building: Successful polio eradication and current and future challenges in the COVID-19 era for the World Health Organization's African region.

Despite a half-century-long global eradication effort, polio continues to have a devastating impact on individuals and communities worldwide, especially in low-income countries affected by conflict or geographic barriers to immunization programs. In response, the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) employs disease surveillance and vaccination campaigns coordinated through the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) Geographic Information System (GIS) Centre. Established in 2017, the AFRO GIS Centre played a key role in the eradication of wild-type polioviruses (WPVs) in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic, emergence of circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses, and transmission of WPV1 from Central Asia have led to a resurgence of polio in Sub-Saharan Africa. The AFRO GIS comprises a set of mobile device or cloud-based tools for geospatial data collection, analysis, and visualization. Using tools such as Auto-Visual Acute Flaccid Paralysis Detection and Reporting, electronic surveillance, and Integrated Supportive Supervision, GIS personnel collect polio case numbers and locations, track field worker activities, follow the movements of nomadic populations vulnerable to polio and other diseases, and determine needs for further healthcare deployments. The system is location specific and operates in real time, enabling the AFRO GIS to promptly target its responses to polio, COVID-19, Ebola virus disease, and other public health crises and natural disasters. The present review describes the components of the AFRO GIS and how the AFRO GIS Centre coordinated on-the-ground polio eradication efforts to help secure Africa's certification as WPV free. It also examines current and prospective challenges regarding other disease outbreaks in the COVID-19 era and how the AFRO GIS Centre is addressing these ongoing public health needs.

Conclusions of the African Regional GIS Summit (2019): using geographic information systems for public health decision-making.

The use of geographic information system (GIS) technologies to improve access to health is gaining momentum in Africa. This has become more pertinent with the increasing penetration of mobile-phone technology and internet use, and calls for innovative strategies to support implementation of the World Health Organization Sustainable Development Goals for universal health coverage on the continent. The huge potential benefits of GIS to advance health service delivery in Africa is, however, yet to be fully harnessed due to critical challenges such as proliferation of pilot projects, poor coordination, inadequate preparedness of the health workforce for GIS, lack of interoperability, and inadequate sustainable financing. To discuss these challenges and propose the way forward for rapid, cost-effective, and sustainable deployment of GIS, the African Regional GIS Summit was held in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, on 7-10 October 2019 under the umbrella of the AFRO GIS Centre.

The role of drug vendors in improving basic health-care services in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize patent and proprietary medicine vendors and shops in Nigeria and to assess their ability to help improve access to high-quality, primary health-care services. METHODS: In 2013 and 2014, a census of patent and proprietary medicine shops in 16 states of Nigeria was carried out to determine: (i) the size and coverage of the sector; (ii) the basic characteristics of shops and their staff; and (iii) the range of products stocked for priority health services, particularly for malaria, diarrhoea and family planning. The influence of the medical training of people in charge of the shops on the health-care products stocked and registration with official bodies was assessed by regression analysis. FINDINGS: The number of shops per 100,000 population was higher in southern than in northern states, but the average percentage of people in charge with medical training across local government areas was higher in northern states: 52.6% versus 29.7% in southern states. Shops headed by a person with medical training were significantly more likely to stock artemisinin-based combination therapy, oral rehydration salts, zinc, injectable contraceptives and intrauterine contraceptive devices. However, these shops were less likely to be registered with the National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers and more likely to be registered with the regulatory body, the Pharmacist Council of Nigeria. CONCLUSION: Many patent and proprietary medicine vendors in Nigeria were medically trained. With additional training and oversight, they could help improve access to basic health-care services. Specifically, vendors with medical training could participate in task-shifting interventions.