Bhagalpur Call Girls 👙 6297143586 👙 Genuine WhatsApp Number for Real Meet
USING GIS TO ASSESS HEALTH CARE ACCESS IN MOGOTIO
1. USING GIS TO ASSESS THE LEVEL OF
ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE
A CASE STUDY OF MOGOTIO SUB COUNTY
BY FANCY KIRUOK
2. INTRODUCTION
Poor levels of access to healthcare services by the population have become a major concern in the
developing countries. Despite the inauguration of county governments in 2013, there is still a
larger number of the population in Mogotio sub county that lack complete access to health care
facilities. This situation has led to an increase in mortality rate of new born babies, inefficient
response to emergencies, insufficient drugs and limited access to life saving maternal and child
health intervention.
Therefore, this study aims at assessing the level of access to healthcare facilities in Mogotio Sub
County in terms of the availability of these facilities, the number of resources and the ease of
accessibility to the health care services.
3. OBJECTIVES
1. To show the spatial distribution of health facilities within Mogotio Sub County
2. Creation of a health facilities web map within Mogotio Sub County
3. Determine accessibility to healthcare services within Mogotio Sub County
4. THE STUDY AREA
The study was conducted in Mogotio sub county of Baringo County. It lies between longitudes
35°50’00’’E - 36°10’00’’E and latitude 0°10’00’’S - 0°20’00’’N.
Mogotio Sub County is bounded by Baringo South sub county to the North, Eldama Ravine sub
county to the West, Laikipia county to the East and Nakuru county to the South. The study
constituted a rural setting owing to its spatial distance from Kabarnet town, headquarters of
Baringo County.
5. METHODOLOGY
DATA COLLECTION METHODS
Questionnaires
DEM
KII
GPS
STUDY AREA • Demographics
• Road networks
• Health
facilities and
resources
• Elevation
Gap Analysis
Suitability
Analysis
6. FINDINGS
This map shows the spatial
distribution of health facilities
in Mogotio Sub County. The
health facilities are classified
by the facility level;
dispensary, health centers and
primary referral. Majority of
the health facilities in Mogotio
Sub County are dispensaries,
there are four health centers
and one primary referral.
8. FINDINGS CONT’D
This map shows the relationship between the
population density per location, the health facilities
and the road networks. It can be noted that there
are no health facilities in the western and the
eastern periphery of the map which have a
relatively high population density. The map reveals
that there are locations with very high population
like Lembus-Mogotio but only have two health
facilities. It can be noted that there are no health
facilities in the western and the eastern periphery
of the map which have a relatively high population.
This implies that the population living in those
areas there have no access to healthcare services
and have to travel longer distance to gain access to
the healthcare services.
9. FINDINGS CONT’D
This map shows the influence of the road networks
to health facility. It can be noted most of the health
facilities are located along roads with good
network. In areas where the road networks are
poorly connected, there are very few or no health
facilities at all. The western and the eastern
periphery of the map have fewer roads which are
not well connected, inhibiting physical access to
healthcare services. It can be noted that there are
some health facilities in areas where there are poor
road network or no road network at all. This
implies that very few patients utilize this health
care facilities; the health facilities are underutilized
due to the poor road network.
10. FINDINGS CONT’D
This map shows a
representation of human
resources (doctors and nurses)
and other resources such as
beds, wards and examination
beds of each health facility in
the study area in the form of
pie charts in a map. Through
the map it can be identified that
most of the health facilities
have examination beds and
nurses only and only a few
have all the four; nurses,
doctors, beds and wards.
11. FINDINGS CONT’D
The above graph shows that 15 of the health
facilities have clinical laboratories while 11 do not
have the labs. This implies that 58% of the health
facilities with the laboratories gain laboratory
information which enables the physicians to make
appropriate evidence-based diagnostic or
therapeutic decisions for their patients while the
42% are not able to do the same for their patients.
Failure to have a clinical lab may result in wrong
diagnosis which may lead to wrong prescription and
eventually severity of a disease or development of
other illnesses or serious side effects due to the
incorrect prescription. Most of the health
facilities15 (58%) are connected to electricity. Only
3 health facilities accepts the use of medical covers.
This implies that most of the patients may not be
able to cover their medical expenses in case of a
critical condition which requires a large amount of
money because they are not insured.
0
5
10
15
20
25
Clinical lab Electricity Medical covers
acceptability
RESOURCE AVAILABILITY
WITH WITHOUT
12. FINDINGS CONT’D
This map shows gap analysis for health
facilities within Mogotio Sub County. To
determine the gaps, a buffer analysis was
conducted by creating a buffer of 4KM
from each health facility. The 4KM buffer
was determined based on the WHO
guidelines; where each health facility
should serve a population within a radius
4KM from the health facility. The orange
color shows areas that are well served by
the health facilities. From the map, some
parts are well served while others parts are
not well served. Gaps exists in the
periphery of the western, northern and the
eastern parts of the maps which are poorly
served which forces patients to walk longer
distances to gain access to health facilities.
This gaps exists due to poor road networks
in those areas.
13. FINDINGS CONT’D
The study used a model builder to do a suitability map. The study incorporated the distance
from existing facilities, rivers, roads, protected, slope and population density into the model
builder to determine areas that are suitable and unsuitable to set up health facility as shown in
the following map.
14. FINDINGS CONT’D
This map shows areas that are unsuitable and
suitable for setting up a health facility. The
dark green areas shows that the area is more
suitable for setting up of a health facility. The
light green areas shows areas that are relatively
suitable. The areas that are yellow are
marginally suitable; it is unsuitable but
changes can be made to make them suitable.
The areas red in color are unsuitable for setting
up of health facilities.
15. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the health facilities within Mogotio Sub County are unevenly distributed are
unevenly distributed. The locations of these facilities is influenced by the road networks; where
road networks are well connected, there are more health facilities. In areas where there are no
roads or there is poor road networks, there are no health facilities. Most of the health facilities in
the study area are dispensaries and there are only 4 health centers and one primary referral.
From the findings, the study concluded that lack of enough human resources, doctors
and nurses, lack of clinical laboratories, poor infrastructure including lack of proper
roads, poor power coverage, and inadequate healthcare facilities negatively influence
healthcare delivery in Mogotio Sub County.
The few numbers of the health facilities and poor road networks have resulted in the
limited accessibility to healthcare services. There are some locations with very high
population densities, however there are very few health centers to cater for their needs;
this leads to crowding of patients in one facility overworking the nurses and doctors due
to the unproportioned numbers of doctors and nurses to that of the patients. To
conclude, accessibility to healthcare services in Mogotio Sub County is limited.
16. RECOMMENDATIONS
The study recommends that the government ensure construction of roads in every ward in the sub
county so as to increase effectiveness and efficiency in healthcare service delivery. This will
ensure that the healthcare institutions are easily accessible.
The government should ensure that health facilities are equipped with relevant facilities to ensure
staff deliver their services efficiently such as increasing the number of nurses, doctors, wards, beds
and promote the distribution of power, provide a system where the patients can use medical
covers.
The government should construct more health facilities in the areas that are underserved as shown
in the maps to bridge the existing gaps based on the selected suitable areas.
