Dataset Information

Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan.

ABSTRACT: At independence in 2011, South Sudan's health sector was almost non-existent. The first national health strategic plan aimed to achieve an integrated health facility network that would mean that 70% of the population were within 5 km of a health service provider. Publically available data on functioning and closed health facilities, population distribution, road networks, land use and elevation were used to compute the fraction of the population within 1 hour walking distance of the nearest public health facility offering curative services. This metric was summarised for each of the 78 counties in South Sudan and compared with simpler metrics of the proportion of the population within 5 km of a health facility. In 2016, it is estimated that there were 1747 public health facilities, out of which 294 were non-functional in part due to the on-going civil conflict. Access to a service provider was poor with only 25.7% of the population living within one-hour walking time to a facility and 28.6% of the population within 5 km. These metrics, when applied sub-nationally, identified the same high priority, most vulnerable counties. Simple metrics based upon population distribution and location of facilities might be as valuable as more complex models of health access, where attribute data on travel routes are imperfect or incomplete and sparse. Disparities exist in South Sudan among counties and those with the poorest health access should be targeted for priority expansion of clinical services.

SUBMITTER: Macharia PM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5483170 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan.

Macharia Peter M PM Ouma Paul O PO Gogo Ezekiel G EG Snow Robert W RW Noor Abdisalan M AM

Geospatial health 20170511 1

At independence in 2011, South Sudan's health sector was almost non-existent. The first national health strategic plan aimed to achieve an integrated health facility network that would mean that 70% of the population were within 5 km of a health service provider. Publically available data on functioning and closed health facilities, population distribution, road networks, land use and elevation were used to compute the fraction of the population within 1 hour walking distance of the nearest publ ...[more]

PMID: 28555479

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Project description:Along with three years implementation of health reform in China, this study aimed at providing the up-to-date evidence about the accessibility of essential public health services (EPHS) among adults with chronic diseases (CDs) in both urban and rural areas, as well as determinants in access to EPHS.The data were collected from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2013, which used a multistage stratified random sampling method to select 54 urban communities and 54 rural villages. Hypertension patients and diabetes patients were the target population who are the main beneficiaries of EPHS. Single factor analysis of influencing factors on difference access to EPHS was performed by Chi-Square analysis. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of effective management and effective control.Patients with hypertension or diabetes were predominantly middle-aged or older persons and had a mean age of 65.26 year. People with CDs in China have a higher basic accessibility rate in EPHS with more than 90% of them having experience in receiving EPHS. And those who are willing to receive services from doctors have the most positive influence on effective management and control in blood pressure or blood glucose. But unsatisfied quality and equity of EPHS still exist in primary health system. 90% of participants could receive EPHS, but just 44% of them could control their diseases effectively. And participants from cities had the higher rates in effective management (urban: rural = 57%: 50.6%) and effective control (urban: rural = 39.5%: 27.8%).People with CDs have a high level in geography and economic accessibility to EPHS, but the effectiveness of health management also needs to be improved, especially for those living in rural areas. Our study highlights the continuing need for improving ability to provide EPHS and the equality among regions. Meanwhile, strengthen health education and promotion for patients with CDs to improve their willingness to receive EPHS is also highlighted.

Project description:Urban environments can influence many aspects of health and well-being and access to health care is one of them. Access to primary health care (PHC) in urban settings is a pressing research and policy issue in Canada. Most research on access to healthcare is focused on national and provincial levels in Canada; there is a need to advance current understanding to local scales such as neighbourhoods.This study examines spatial accessibility to family physicians using the Three-Step Floating Catchment Area (3SFCA) method to identify neighbourhoods with poor geographical access to PHC services and their spatial patterning across 14 Canadian urban settings. An index of spatial access to PHC services, representing an accessibility score (physicians-per-1000 population), was calculated for neighborhoods using a 3km road network distance. Information about primary health care providers (this definition does not include mobile services such as health buses or nurse practitioners or less distributed services such as emergency rooms) used in this research was gathered from publicly available and routinely updated sources (i.e. provincial colleges of physicians and surgeons). An integrated geocoding approach was used to establish PHC locations.The results found that the three methods, Simple Ratio, Neighbourhood Simple Ratio, and 3SFCA that produce City level access scores are positively correlated with each other. Comparative analyses were performed both within and across urban settings to examine disparities in distributions of PHC services. It is found that neighbourhoods with poor accessibility scores in the main urban settings across Canada have further disadvantages in relation to population high health care needs.The results of this study show substantial variations in geographical accessibility to PHC services both within and among urban areas. This research enhances our understanding of spatial accessibility to health care services at the neighbourhood level. In particular, the results show that the low access neighbourhoods tend to be clustered in the neighbourhoods at the urban periphery and immediately surrounding the downtown area.

Project description:BackgroundReducing maternal mortality remains a global priority. In 2000, the United Nations Member States pledged to work towards a series of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in which the fifth target was to reduce maternal mortality ratio by 75% from 1990 to 2015. The Chinese government introduced Basic Public Health Service project in 2009 to the further improvement of maternal health services and reduction in maternal mortality. China had achieved the goal of MDG5 1 year ahead of the schedule in 2014, but the effects of the project on reducing maternal mortality were rarely evaluated with robust methods.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal study on maternal mortality ratio by extracting mortality data from the National Maternal Mortality Surveillance System (1991-2016) and maternal health services measures from the China health statistic yearbook (2001-2016). We utilized the segmented linear regression model to assess changes and trends of maternal mortality ratio and maternal health services before and after the introduction of Basic Public Health Service project. Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to measure the strength of association between the maternal mortality ratio and maternal health services.ResultsThe yearly trend change of national maternal mortality ratio was - 1.76 (p < 0.01) after the introduction of Basic Public Health Service project in 2009, while the yearly trend change of maternal health record establish rate, prenatal examination rate, postpartum visit rate was 0.77 (p < 0.01), 0.61 (p < 0.01) and 0.83 (p < 0.01) separately. The negative correlations were also found between national maternal mortality ratio and prenatal examination rate (r = - 0.95, p < 0.01), maternal health record establish rate (r = - 0.93, p < 0.01) and postpartum visit rate (r = - 0.92, p < 0.01).ConclusionsThe Basic Public Health Service project was found to be associated with the improvements in the maternal health services and reduction in maternal mortality. The design and implementation of the project may serve as a positive example for other developing countries. Continued monitoring and assessment of project effects should be stressed.

Project description:BackgroundThe health system in South Sudan faces extreme domestic resource constraints, low capacity, and protracted humanitarian crises. Supportive supervision is believed to improve the quality of health care and service delivery by compensating for flaws in health workforce management. This study aimed to explore the current supervision practices in South Sudan and identify areas for quality improvement.MethodsThe study employed qualitative approaches to collect and analyse data from six purposefully selected counties. Data were collected from 194 participants using semi-structured interviews (43 health managers) and focus group discussions (151 health workers). Thematic content analysis was used to yield an in-depth understanding of the supervision practices in the health sector.ResultsThe study found that integrated supportive supervision and monitoring visits were the main approaches used for health services supervision in South Sudan. Supportive supervision focused more on health system administration and less on clinical matters. Although fragmented, supportive supervision was carried out quarterly, while monitoring visits were either conducted monthly or ad hoc. Prioritization for supportive supervision was mainly data driven. Paper-based checklists were the most commonly used supervision tools. Many supervisors had no formal training on supportive supervision and only learned on the job. The health workers received on-site verbal feedback and, most times, on-the-job training sessions through coaching and mentorship. Action plans developed during supervision were inadequately followed up due to insufficient funding. Insecurity, poor road networks, lack of competent health managers, poor coordination, and lack of adequate means of transport were some of the challenges experienced during supervision. The presumed outcomes of supportive supervision were improvements in human resource management, drug management, health data reporting, teamwork, and staff respect for one another.ConclusionSupportive supervision remains a daunting task in the South Sudan health sector due to a combination of external and health system factors. Our study findings suggest that strengthening the processes and providing inputs for supervision should be prioritized if quality improvement is to be attained. This necessitates stronger stewardship from the Ministry of Health, integration of different supervision practices, investment in the capacity of the health workforce, and health infrastructure development.

Project description:BackgroundLong distances to facilities, topographical constraints, inadequate service capacity of institutions and insufficient/ rudimentary road & transportation network culminate into unprecedented barriers to access. These barriers gets exacerbated in presence of external factors like conflict and political disruptions. Thus, this study was conducted in rural, remote and fragile region in India measuring geographical accessibility and modelling spatial coverage of public healthcare network.MethodsVector and raster based approaches were used to discern accessibility for various packages of service delivery. Alternative scenarios derived from local experiences were modelled using health facility, population and ancillary data. Based on that, a raster surface of travel time between facilities and population was developed by incorporating terrain, physical barriers, topography and travelling modes and speeds through various land-cover classes. Concomitantly, spatial coverage was modelled to delineate catchment areas. Further, underserved population and zonal statistics were assessed in an interactive modelling approach to ascertain spatial relationship between population, travel time and zonal boundaries. Finally, raster surface of travel time was re-modelled for the conflict situation in villages vulnerable to obstruction of access due to disturbed security scenario.ResultsEuclidean buffers revealed 11% villages without ambulatory & immunization care within 2 km radius. Similarly, for 5 km radius, 11% and 12% villages were bereft of delivery and inpatient care. Travel time accessibility analysis divulged walking scenario exhibiting lowest level of accessibility. Enabling motorized travel improved accessibility measures, with highest degree of accessibility for privately owned vehicle (motorcycle and cars). Differential results were found between packages of services where ambulatory & immunization care was relatively accessible by walking; whereas, delivery and inpatient care had a staggering average of three hours walking time. Even with best scenario, around 2/3rd population remained unserved for all package of services. Moreover, 90% villages in conflict zone grapples with inaccessibility when the scenario of heightened border tensions was considered.ConclusionsOur study demonstrated the application of GIS technique to facilitate evidence backed planning at granular level. Regardless of the scenario, the analysis divulged inaccessibility to delivery and inpatient care to be most pronounced and majority of population to be unserved. It was suggested to have concerted efforts to bolster already existing facilities and adapt systems approach to exploit synergies of inter-sectoral development.

Dataset Information

Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan.

Publications

Spatial accessibility to basic public health services in South Sudan.

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