Health GeoLab: Mapping a smarter future for public health

The Health GeoLab (HGL), established in 2017 and integrated into the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU) in 2022, is tackling this challenge head-on, transforming how public health questions are addressed in the Asia-Pacific region. Led by MORU’s Professor Richard Maude and coordinated by Dr Steeve Ebener, HGL’s mission is to support countries’ health sectors and bring direct benefits to their citizens through the effective integration of geography and time across their health information systems. This both improves geographically based decision making and provides a more systemic and systematic approach to solving public health problems 

At the heart of HGL’s work is a robust geo-enabling framework, built around nine interlinked elements. This framework offers a practical roadmap for countries to “geo-enable” their health information systems. It is supported by in-country training and a growing library of standard operating procedures, toolkits, guidelines and templates – all designed to be field-ready, scalable, and locally adaptable. 

To date, these resources have been shared and used by ministries of health, UN agencies, and development partners not only in Asia-Pacific but also in Africa, effecting positive change across these societies. They help to assess the current level of geo-enablement of a country’s health information system, address identified gaps across the nine elements of the framework, and support action planning based on local realities. 

Oxford University Innovation’s Consulting Services team has supported HGL projects including recent work with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help countries across the Asia-Pacific region with vaccination rollout, and a specific focus on geo-enabled microplanning in Cambodia, which will have a huge impact on the country’s public health planning. Professor Maude says: “Working with OUI’s Consulting Services team has been an excellent experience. We are always impressed by their professionalism and efficiency.” 

• Since the launch of the HGL website, HGL’s geospatial online resources have been accessed more than 10,000 times by users from different continents
• The health information system geo-enabling framework has been implemented in four countries in the Asia-Pacific region (Cambodia, Mongolia, Myanmar and Vietnam)
• Currently, HGL supports activities in countries through UNICEF, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Gates Foundation-funded projects