Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi
Abstract Background Mapping health facility catchment areas is important for estimating the population that uses the health facility, as a denominator for capturing spatial patterns of disease burden across space. Mapping activities to generate catchment areas are expensive exercises and are often n...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Communications Medicine |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00845-3 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850102458920992768 |
|---|---|
| author | Patrick Ken Kalonde Owen Tsoka Blessings Chiepa Chifuniro Baluwa Clinton Nkolokosa Donnie Mategula Suresh Muthukrishnan Nicholas Feasey Marc Y. R. Henrion Michelle C. Stanton Nicolas Ray Dianne Jannette Terlouw Joshua Longbottom James Chirombo |
| author_facet | Patrick Ken Kalonde Owen Tsoka Blessings Chiepa Chifuniro Baluwa Clinton Nkolokosa Donnie Mategula Suresh Muthukrishnan Nicholas Feasey Marc Y. R. Henrion Michelle C. Stanton Nicolas Ray Dianne Jannette Terlouw Joshua Longbottom James Chirombo |
| author_sort | Patrick Ken Kalonde |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Mapping health facility catchment areas is important for estimating the population that uses the health facility, as a denominator for capturing spatial patterns of disease burden across space. Mapping activities to generate catchment areas are expensive exercises and are often not repeated on a regular basis. Methods In this work, we demonstrated the generation of facility catchment areas in Blantyre, Malawi using crowdsourced road data and open-source mapping tools. We also observed travel speeds associated with different means of transportation were made in five randomly selected residential communities within Blantyre city. AccessMod version 5.8 was used to process the generated data to quantify travel time and catchment areas of health facilities in Blantyre city. Results When these catchments are compared with georeferenced patients originating communities (based on malaria records), an average of 90.3 percent of the patients come from communities within the generated catchments. Conclusions The study suggests that crowdsourced data resources can be used for the delineation of catchment areas and this information can confidently be used in efforts to stratify the burden of diseases such as malaria. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ed4223e2ca684c409573f653d319e6b4 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2730-664X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Medicine |
| spelling | doaj-art-ed4223e2ca684c409573f653d319e6b42025-08-20T02:39:44ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Medicine2730-664X2025-06-015111110.1038/s43856-025-00845-3Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in MalawiPatrick Ken Kalonde0Owen Tsoka1Blessings Chiepa2Chifuniro Baluwa3Clinton Nkolokosa4Donnie Mategula5Suresh Muthukrishnan6Nicholas Feasey7Marc Y. R. Henrion8Michelle C. Stanton9Nicolas Ray10Dianne Jannette Terlouw11Joshua Longbottom12James Chirombo13Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Department of Earth, Environmental, and Sustainability Sciences, Furman UniversityMalawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Malawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke PlaceInstitute of Global Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Campus BiotechMalawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Pembroke PlaceMalawi Liverpool Wellcome Programme, Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (KUHeS)Abstract Background Mapping health facility catchment areas is important for estimating the population that uses the health facility, as a denominator for capturing spatial patterns of disease burden across space. Mapping activities to generate catchment areas are expensive exercises and are often not repeated on a regular basis. Methods In this work, we demonstrated the generation of facility catchment areas in Blantyre, Malawi using crowdsourced road data and open-source mapping tools. We also observed travel speeds associated with different means of transportation were made in five randomly selected residential communities within Blantyre city. AccessMod version 5.8 was used to process the generated data to quantify travel time and catchment areas of health facilities in Blantyre city. Results When these catchments are compared with georeferenced patients originating communities (based on malaria records), an average of 90.3 percent of the patients come from communities within the generated catchments. Conclusions The study suggests that crowdsourced data resources can be used for the delineation of catchment areas and this information can confidently be used in efforts to stratify the burden of diseases such as malaria.https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00845-3 |
| spellingShingle | Patrick Ken Kalonde Owen Tsoka Blessings Chiepa Chifuniro Baluwa Clinton Nkolokosa Donnie Mategula Suresh Muthukrishnan Nicholas Feasey Marc Y. R. Henrion Michelle C. Stanton Nicolas Ray Dianne Jannette Terlouw Joshua Longbottom James Chirombo Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi Communications Medicine |
| title | Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi |
| title_full | Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi |
| title_short | Mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in Blantyre city in Malawi |
| title_sort | mapping and quantifying travel time to define health facility catchment areas in blantyre city in malawi |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-025-00845-3 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT patrickkenkalonde mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT owentsoka mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT blessingschiepa mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT chifunirobaluwa mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT clintonnkolokosa mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT donniemategula mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT sureshmuthukrishnan mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT nicholasfeasey mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT marcyrhenrion mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT michellecstanton mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT nicolasray mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT diannejannetteterlouw mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT joshualongbottom mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi AT jameschirombo mappingandquantifyingtraveltimetodefinehealthfacilitycatchmentareasinblantyrecityinmalawi |