Abstract

Improving Food Security and Empowerment with SSHiNE GIS
Track: Health and Human Services
Authors: Seth Wiafe, Molly Krans, Diane Garcia-Gonzales, Karla BarrowHarding

The South Sudan Health, Nutrition, and Empowerment Geographic Information Systems (SSHiNE GIS) was developed as an online mapping application that integrates information about health facilities, food distribution, infrastructure, and socioeconomic data. The goal of this system is to improve the health and nutrition of women and children under five years old in Northern Bahr-El-Ghazal and Warrap States of South Sudan.
As part of the multidisciplinary approach to develop SSHiNE GIS, comprehensive health facility assessment was conducted through surveys along with latitude and longitude of each identified health facility. Data was analyzed for spatial patterns and results revealed an uneven distribution of health facilities across the region. Majority of health facilities reported high volumes of malaria in children and less than 40% distributed insecticide treated nets. This paper will describe the methodology and challenges in developing SSHiNE GIS web services and discuss the outcome of the project.