Development and Implementation of a Centralized Geospatial Database Platform (AFRO GDB) for Standardized Health Data Management in the WHO African Region
Domain:
geospatialhealthcareRecord type:
dataset
Creator:
JohRosGasKip
Publisher:
Host:
Background: In the WHO African Region (WHO AFRO), geospatial data are fundamental to modern public health practices. However, the Region has not had a centralized, country-validated geospatial data system to consistently support the use of administrative boundaries, population figures, and health facility data across its 47 Member States. Efforts to address this gap through surveillance and supplementary immunisation initiatives have provided some relief. Administrative boundary and population data have been scattered across global repositories with minimal validation from Ministries of Health, and there has been no regionally harmonized, classified master list of health facilities. This fragmentation hampers the reliability of surveillance planning, estimation of immunisation coverage, analysis of catchment areas, resource distribution, and comparability between countries.
Methods: We developed the AFRO Geospatial Database (AFRO GDB), a cloud-hosted, API-enabled platform with automated quality control, multi-actor governance, and standardised data schemas for administrative boundaries, sub-national population estimates, and health facility registries. The platform was delivered through six iterative releases between December 2024 and June 2025 using a Jenkins-based CI/CD pipeline, embedded user acceptance testing with national GIS focal points, and an explicit capacity transfer programme.
Findings: By July 2025, 36 of 47 Member States (77%) had at least one active boundary dataset in the platform’s governance pipeline. The automated QC engine surfaced 7,347 of 10,546 (69.7%) records in a Ghana facility batch as requiring focal-point review, showing the platform’s capacity to identify records requiring country-level review in real-world registry data. A Mali ADM2 population upload processed 11 regions' records covering 25.2 million people in a single submission cycle. The platform supports six dissemination channels: public web app, REST API, OGC services, file export, QGIS plugin, and online help and is positioned to feed POLIS, WUENIC, DHIS2, and the WHO Global Health Observatory via WHO’s xMart pipeline. The WHO AFRO GIS Centre team demonstrated independent operational capability across CI/CD, deployment, and QC modification at project close.
Interpretation: The AFRO GDB delivers the first regionally harmonised, geospatially validated and country -anchored openly accessible spatial data infrastructure for the WHO African Region, preserving country-anchored data sovereignty through a tiered governance architecture. It provides a documented, replicable model for regional Health Spatial Data Infrastructure (H-SDI) development applicable to other WHO regional offices and to national health information system modernisation in LMIC settings.
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