Using QGIS and open-source data to develop a light touch geospatial methodology to identify barriers supply chains face to deliver routine immunizations at the district level
09-10, 14:00–14:30 (Europe/Bratislava), B320

It is estimated there are approximately 17 million children worldwide who have been received a singular vaccine, otherwise known as zero-dose children, in 2020. This has been made worse due to COVID, economic crises, conflict, and decline in vaccine confidence and it is expected to increase. These gaps in immunizations put children at risk, put an increased burden on healthcare systems, and move the goalposts for eradication, as we have seen with polio. To address this issue, it is important to be able to map the number of zero and under dosed children, but previous geospatial mapping techniques were either too resource heavy or focused on the country level. Adjusting current methodologies this has allowed us to develop a light touch geospatial methodology that 1) modifies the way we calculate the number of zero dose children and 2) uses open-source software and data to create profiles at a second administrative level (i.e.: district) to understand what barriers caregivers face when accessing healthcare and challenges supply chains face to provide materials. To conduct our work, we use QGIS to map the percentage of zero dose children and then use open-source datasets to calculate the distance people have to travel from each populated place to the closest health facility, location of recent conflicts, flood/drought risk, food security, languages spoken, topography, etc. to understand what variables could be affecting the number of zero-dose children. We piloted our work in two provinces in Mozambique and have been able to scale up our work to three additional countries, DRC, Malawi, and Côte d'Ivoire.

Steffanie Sinclair-Chritz has 14 years of experience working in data analytics and geospatial mapping data from public health initiatives in the United States and internationally. Her geospatial mapping work has included identifying zero-dose children, tracking malaria cases amongst migrant workers, supply chain shipments, access to behavioral and mental healthcare, and multivariant mapping of COVID vaccine and at-risk variables. Additionally, she has provided technical assistance to health jurisdictions by analyzing vaccination data, creating dashboards, interviewing key stakeholders, designing data collection materials, and presenting overall findings. She holds a PhD from Washington State University and an MPA from Seattle University.