Holding a National Health and Mapping Summit to Build Partnerships for Improving Health Outcomes: Lessons Learned from the Nigeria Health and Mapping Summit of 2011

"The net short-term result of a health and mapping summit will be momentum. This momentum should not be squandered, but should be sustained by following through on action items and by producing tangible results."

To provide an example of how to bridge the divide between the health and mapping sectors in a country as a means to improve national health outcomes, especially with respect to HIV/AIDS, MEASURE Evaluation collaborated with the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) to hold a summit in October 2011 between the health and mapping sectors in that country. Beyond helping to improve health outcomes in Nigeria, the intent of the meeting was to develop guidance and recommendations for other countries that might be interested in holding a similar event.

Organisers were motivated by the observation that ministries of health (MOHs), national AIDS commissions (NACs), and other social service agencies that wish to use geographic information system (GIS) data, tools, and methods are often hampered by a lack of familiarity with or access to GIS resources within their country. This lack of familiarity or access creates a GIS capacity gap within the health sector, which makes it difficult for the health sector to leverage the power of geographic data, software, and analytical techniques to strengthen the evidence base for decision making. As noted here, many countries already have a national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI) programme in place through which a national mapping agency (NMA), and supporting mapping sector organisations can assist health sector organisations that are seeking to use GIS to enhance their efforts in evidence-based decision making. Often, however, the lines of communication and cooperation between the health and mapping sectors are not clearly established.

The conference, which drew 120 participants from the health and mapping sectors including implementing partners, training institutions, the National Planning Commission (NPC), and the media, sought to initiate a pan-Nigeria community of practice to increase involvement of the Nigeria Federal Ministry of Health in the National Geospatial Data Infrastructure (NGDI) process and to build linkages between these health sector agencies and NGDI actors, including NMAs. In addition to opening remarks and a keynote address, there were technical sessions focused on the identification of challenges to geospatial resource sharing, and there was a breakout session of group work to prioritise those challenges and to recommend solutions.

This document outlines the entire process and makes recommendations. "The approach used in the planning, organizing and execution of the health and mapping summit ensured that the process (1) was owned and led by the country; (2) encouraged partnerships and collaboration among relevant stakeholders and (3) promoted participation and allowed for consensus building. From the conceptualization to the hosting of the summit required approximately 14 months. The relatively slow pace at which summit planning unfolded can be attributed in large part to the deliberate process required to gain buy-in and build consensus among major stakeholders." Step-by-step recommendations are provided - divided into:

• Before the event - example: In the month preceding the summit, if not already done, the steering committee should ensure completion of the following: booking a location for the meeting; sending invitations to speakers, session facilitators, all other participants, and the media; making final revisions to the agenda depending on invitation responses; announcing the meeting to the general public, including creation of a print version for email distribution and posting of an announcement on select websites; creating meeting materials, including a banner, handouts, group worksheets, and flash drives distributed to participants with relevant publications; possibly hiring a videographer to record the meeting; and hiring an event planner to liaise with the steering committee and manage the meeting's details.
• During the event - example: "Two key results of the Nigeria conference were the identification of the main issues affecting Nigeria's ability to improve health outcomes, especially the need for coordination of various efforts in the health and NGDI sectors, and the drafting of a communiqué that could be presented to the executive and legislative arms of the government, as well as relevant stakeholders (e.g., donors and ministerial agencies), with the intent of improving the NSDI needed to combat HIV/AIDS and related health and social service challenges. The communiqué is a bold statement of intent by summit participants, and establishes a clear vision for the direction of NSDI development in Nigeria. The clarion call to action contained in the communiqué also provides an extremely useful point of reference for communicating the health sector's NSDI development needs to parties who were not able to attend the summit."
• After the event - key actions include: disseminate the summit communiqué as widely as possible; develop and post an online report of summit proceedings; publicise summit results by leveraging a videotape of the event to create a 30-minute programme for airing on national television; maintain the dialogue started between the health and mapping sectors; and begin implementing the post-summit action plan.

The document concludes by noting that, if such a summit "is a one-time event with no follow-through, it will have little long-term impact." Momentum can be sustained, for example, by making the health and mapping sector summit an annual event. "This would reinvigorate the process each year by stimulating fresh dialog, reinforcing working relationships, and facilitating creation of an updated action plan. Most importantly, however, stakeholders should act to establish health and mapping sector collaboration as an integral component of NSDI/NGDI development in their country."

MEASURE Evaluation is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented by the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in partnership with Futures Group, ICF International, John Snow, Inc., Management Sciences for Health, and Tulane University.