Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jul;134(1):13-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijgo.2015.11.022. Epub 2016 Apr 1.

A scoping review of geographic information systems in maternal health

Prestige T Makanga  1 , Nadine Schuurman  2 , Peter von Dadelszen  3 , Tabassum Firoz  4
Affiliations

A scoping review of geographic information systems in maternal health

Prestige T Makanga et al. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2016 Jul.

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly recognized tools in maternal health.

Objectives: To evaluate the use of GIS in maternal health and to identify knowledge gaps and opportunities.

Search strategy: Keywords broadly related to maternal health and GIS were used to search for academic articles and gray literature.

Selection criteria: Reviewed articles focused on maternal health, with GIS used as part of the methods.

Data collection and analysis: Peer reviewed articles (n=40) and gray literature sources (n=30) were reviewed.

Main results: Two main themes emerged: modeling access to maternal services and identifying risks associated with maternal outcomes. Knowledge gaps included a need to rethink spatial access to maternal care in low- and middle-income settings, and a need for more explicit use of GIS to account for the geographical variation in the effect of risk factors on adverse maternal outcomes. Limited evidence existed to suggest that use of GIS had influenced maternal health policy. Instead, application of GIS to maternal health was largely influenced by policy priorities in global maternal health.

Conclusions: Investigation of the role of GIS in contributing to future policy directions is warranted, particularly for elucidating determinants of global maternal health.

Keywords: Geographic information systems; Global health; Health policy; Health services; Maternal health; Spatial access; Spatial epidemiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Search results and key themes that emerged from the review. Abbreviation: WOS, Web of Science.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
GIS in maternal health and the links to policy formulation and implementation. Abbreviation: GIS, geographic information systems.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Maternity Worldwide. Saving lives in childbirth. http://www.maternityworldwide.org/. Published 2014. Accessed May 11, 2015.
    1. Hardee K., Gay J., Blanc A.K. Maternal morbidity: neglected dimension of safe motherhood in the developing world. Glob Public Health. 2012;7(6):603–617. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alvarez J.L., Gil R., Hernandez V., Gil A. Factors associated with maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa: an ecological study. BMC Public Health. 2009;9(1):462. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Marmot M., Friel S., Bell R., Houweling T.A., Taylor S. Commision on social determinants of health. Closing the gap in a generation: health equity through action on the social determinants of health. Lancet. 2008;372(9650):1661–1669. - PubMed
    1. Cowen D.J. GIS versus CAD versus DBMS: what are the differences? Photogramm Eng Remote Sens. 1988;54(11):1551–1555.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources