Publications
1.
Dotse-Gborgbortsi, Winfred; Tatem, Andrew J.; Matthews, Zoë; Alegana, Victor; Ofosu, Anthony; Wright, Jim
Delineating natural catchment health districts with routinely collected health data from women’s travel to give birth in Ghana Journal Article
In: BMC Health Services Research, vol. 22, no. 772, 2022.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Ghana, Health, maternal health, Public health
@article{nokey,
title = {Delineating natural catchment health districts with routinely collected health data from women’s travel to give birth in Ghana},
author = {Winfred Dotse-Gborgbortsi and Andrew J. Tatem and Zoë Matthews and Victor Alegana and Anthony Ofosu and Jim Wright },
doi = {10.1186/s12913-022-08125-9},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-06-13},
urldate = {2022-06-13},
journal = {BMC Health Services Research},
volume = {22},
number = {772},
abstract = {Health service areas are essential for planning, policy and managing public health interventions. In this study, we delineate health service areas from routinely collected health data as a robust geographic basis for presenting access to maternal care indicators.
Methods
A zone design algorithm was adapted to delineate health service areas through a cross-sectional, ecological study design. Health sub-districts were merged into health service areas such that patient flows across boundaries were minimised. Delineated zones and existing administrative boundaries were used to provide estimates of access to maternal health services. We analysed secondary data comprising routinely collected health records from 32,921 women attending 27 hospitals to give birth, spatial demographic data, a service provision assessment on the quality of maternal healthcare and health sub-district boundaries from Eastern Region, Ghana.
Results
Clear patterns of cross border movement to give birth emerged from the analysis, but more women originated closer to the hospitals. After merging the 250 sub-districts in 33 districts, 11 health service areas were created. The minimum percent of internal flows of women giving birth within any health service area was 97.4%. Because the newly delineated boundaries are more “natural” and sensitive to observed flow patterns, when we calculated areal indicator estimates, they showed a marked improvement over the existing administrative boundaries, with the inclusion of a hospital in every health service area.
Conclusion
Health planning can be improved by using routine health data to delineate natural catchment health districts. In addition, data-driven geographic boundaries derived from public health events will improve areal health indicator estimates, planning and interventions.},
keywords = {Ghana, Health, maternal health, Public health},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Health service areas are essential for planning, policy and managing public health interventions. In this study, we delineate health service areas from routinely collected health data as a robust geographic basis for presenting access to maternal care indicators.
Methods
A zone design algorithm was adapted to delineate health service areas through a cross-sectional, ecological study design. Health sub-districts were merged into health service areas such that patient flows across boundaries were minimised. Delineated zones and existing administrative boundaries were used to provide estimates of access to maternal health services. We analysed secondary data comprising routinely collected health records from 32,921 women attending 27 hospitals to give birth, spatial demographic data, a service provision assessment on the quality of maternal healthcare and health sub-district boundaries from Eastern Region, Ghana.
Results
Clear patterns of cross border movement to give birth emerged from the analysis, but more women originated closer to the hospitals. After merging the 250 sub-districts in 33 districts, 11 health service areas were created. The minimum percent of internal flows of women giving birth within any health service area was 97.4%. Because the newly delineated boundaries are more “natural” and sensitive to observed flow patterns, when we calculated areal indicator estimates, they showed a marked improvement over the existing administrative boundaries, with the inclusion of a hospital in every health service area.
Conclusion
Health planning can be improved by using routine health data to delineate natural catchment health districts. In addition, data-driven geographic boundaries derived from public health events will improve areal health indicator estimates, planning and interventions.
Methods
A zone design algorithm was adapted to delineate health service areas through a cross-sectional, ecological study design. Health sub-districts were merged into health service areas such that patient flows across boundaries were minimised. Delineated zones and existing administrative boundaries were used to provide estimates of access to maternal health services. We analysed secondary data comprising routinely collected health records from 32,921 women attending 27 hospitals to give birth, spatial demographic data, a service provision assessment on the quality of maternal healthcare and health sub-district boundaries from Eastern Region, Ghana.
Results
Clear patterns of cross border movement to give birth emerged from the analysis, but more women originated closer to the hospitals. After merging the 250 sub-districts in 33 districts, 11 health service areas were created. The minimum percent of internal flows of women giving birth within any health service area was 97.4%. Because the newly delineated boundaries are more “natural” and sensitive to observed flow patterns, when we calculated areal indicator estimates, they showed a marked improvement over the existing administrative boundaries, with the inclusion of a hospital in every health service area.
Conclusion
Health planning can be improved by using routine health data to delineate natural catchment health districts. In addition, data-driven geographic boundaries derived from public health events will improve areal health indicator estimates, planning and interventions.
2.
Jia, Peng; Sankoh, Osman; Tatem, Andrew J.
Mapping the environmental and socioeconomic coverage of the INDEPTH international health and demographic surveillance system network Journal Article
In: Health & Place, vol. 36, pp. 88-96, 2015, ISSN: 1353-8292.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: Africa, Asia, Demographic surveillance sites, Health, Remote sensing
@article{JIA201588,
title = {Mapping the environmental and socioeconomic coverage of the INDEPTH international health and demographic surveillance system network},
author = {Peng Jia and Osman Sankoh and Andrew J. Tatem},
url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1353829215001379},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2015.09.009},
issn = {1353-8292},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-01},
journal = {Health & Place},
volume = {36},
pages = {88-96},
abstract = {The International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health (INDEPTH) has produced reliable longitudinal data about the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through a global network of health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) sites. Since reliable demographic data are scarce across many LMICs, we examine the environmental and socioeconomic (ES) similarities between existing HDSS sites and the rest of the LMICs. The HDSS sites were hierarchically grouped by the similarity of their ES conditions to quantify the ES variability between sites. The entire Africa and Asia region was classified to identify which regions were most similar to existing sites, based on available ES data. Results show that the current INDEPTH network architecture does a good job in representing ES conditions, but that great heterogeneities exist, even within individual countries. The results provide valuable information in determining the confidence with which relationships derived from present HDSS sites can be broadly extended to other areas, and to highlight areas where the new HDSS sites would improve significantly the ES coverage of the network.},
keywords = {Africa, Asia, Demographic surveillance sites, Health, Remote sensing},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
The International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health (INDEPTH) has produced reliable longitudinal data about the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through a global network of health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) sites. Since reliable demographic data are scarce across many LMICs, we examine the environmental and socioeconomic (ES) similarities between existing HDSS sites and the rest of the LMICs. The HDSS sites were hierarchically grouped by the similarity of their ES conditions to quantify the ES variability between sites. The entire Africa and Asia region was classified to identify which regions were most similar to existing sites, based on available ES data. Results show that the current INDEPTH network architecture does a good job in representing ES conditions, but that great heterogeneities exist, even within individual countries. The results provide valuable information in determining the confidence with which relationships derived from present HDSS sites can be broadly extended to other areas, and to highlight areas where the new HDSS sites would improve significantly the ES coverage of the network.
