Geospatial analysis and decision support for health services planning in Uganda.

As the utilization of geospatial techniques continues to surge, spatial information has become an integral part of decision-making. In Uganda, the use of geospatial techniques in provision of health services planning has gained momentum after a comprehensive survey of health units and the development of a national health services geodatabase. Planning for the provision of health infrastructure services requires quality information to rationalize the location, and allocation, of services in relation to the population. Health service planners are always faced with a question of where to locate services in relation to need and how such distribution would be affected by resources to meet the requirements of the population. Because resources are scarce, prioritization is indispensable and thorough analysis becomes important in the planning process. This paper analyzes access to health facilities using the population gridding approach, coupled with location of health infrastructure facilities for decision support in health services planning.