Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Tools: Fostering Healthcare, Health Communication Activities and Materials

Background: Health communication can use a variety of tools to create participatory planning and evaluation processes – as well as to present community health issues and engage targeted audiences.  For multiple projects, FHI 360 has, in support of improved public health outcomes, used Geographical Information Systems (GIS) connected processes and products to inform health communication efforts and foster shared understanding, collaboration and coordination among additional partners as well as constituents.

Program background: Through integrating, among other things, various combinations of consumer market, epidemiologic, and census data; health facility coverage and catchment area information with GIS mapping software, FHI 360 provided unique data visualization tools for health communication programmers throughout the United States and internationally.  These geographically demonstrated health behavior status, location of resources, collaboration opportunities and relevant population density and healthcare access/transportation opportunities for distinct communities, programs, and organizations. 

Evaluation Methods and Results:  For all of the projects, GIS-developed tools were reviewed by health communication and public health practitioners to determine their usefulness for program planning.  Program managers or advisors discussed potential uses for these tools to foster collaboration within their community, identify issues to focus on, as well as to effectively target specific audiences. Working with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, FHI 360 provided a geographic representation of uptake of both positive and negative health behaviors for community level obesity prevention.  These maps assist program planners in effectively targeting local communication efforts and have been used in community meetings and with government staff to emphasize the prevalence and distribution of behaviors or service utilization.  Working the Veterans Health Administration, FHI 360 developed GIS tools to display targeted population density and relative need compared with available healthcare services, to communicate healthcare service provision need and encourage collaboration among healthcare provider organizations.  Additional projects, many for the US Agency for International Development, have also used GIS to, among other things, better understand and communicate about emergency care system issues, and to design efficient referral networks to help avert maternal death and disability.  Community/Youth mapping, used for some of this, builds community connection as well as contributes to the development of a valuable tool.

Conclusions: GIS tools have practical applications in health communication – for planning, engaging, and creatively communicating with a wide variety of audiences.

Implications for research and/or practice: Using GIS tools to display population or community disease/health-issue burden, behaviors and services opens data analysis to non-traditional partners and increases participatory decision making for health communication programs.