DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM FOR TRACKING THE IMMUNIZATION OF PEDIATRICS ACROSS NIGERIA

Abstract

The Nigerian Pediatric Association (PAN) has been successfully implementing a national immunization program since 1968. The program has increased immunization coverage from the beginning, but data on immunization coverage are collected and aggregated from local health centers in paper-based reports with deficiencies that, in turn, contribute to inadequate decision-making in the immunization sector. GIS and related spatial analysis approaches offer a range of tools for explaining and interpreting the evolving spatial organization of health care, analyzing its relationship to health outcomes, and exploring how the delivery of health care can be enhanced. This study presents a system that has been developed to provide spatial information on the distribution of pediatric immunization data across Nigeria. This system has been developed using Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) and Cascading Styling Sheets (CSS) for page designs. After the design, the system was implemented and tested using the Django server, which acts as a local server for hosting web applications without the use of internet connectivity. Mapbox was been used as a mapping service application to ensure that geographical locations are displayed with the support of Mapbox API. The results of the system tests showed that the system handled the data properly; the coverage of the data stored showed the reliability of the system in data storage and retrieval. The simple interface design proved to be user-friendly for all users that handled the system. The system tackled the issue of a poor health care system for monitoring and evaluating pediatric immunization records. The map display also improves the easy-to- read and easy-to- understand environment for any authorized user to make decisions on immunization coverage. In conclusion, the system has the capacity to monitor and also spatially query the immunization of pediatrics across Nigeria. The system also will go a long way towards resolving the issue of immunization coverage in Nigeria to increase the country's global immunization rate. Also, it will be used by public health authorities to monitor pediatric immunization across Nigeria.