10-04-2020 | di COOPI

Malawi. A geo-locating tool to answer to COVID-19 emergency

The mapping tool of all health facilities in Malawi is now available online. Developed by COOPI thanks to the  Department for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) funding, the tool aims to visualise the dataset in a  comprehensive and user-friendly way. The web-based portal is an important contribution by COOPI to the collective efforts of humanitarian agencies to  facilitate effective decision-making processes in response to the Covid-19 emergency.

In collaboration with the University of Salzburg, COOPI uploaded a dataset from Unicef containing the geolocation of all health facilities in Malawi. The platform is called “Malawi Disaster Management Portal” (www.gis-malawi.com) and it was developed by COOPI for the Ministry of Disaster Management Affairs in the framework of a project funded by the Department for Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO).

The predefined set of maps is accessible selecting “Malawi Health Facilities and Population” on the drop-down list on the top/left side of the page. Once selected, a whole dataset will appear on the map. Selecting “Malawi/Infrastructure and DDR Facilities” on the left “Layers” menu, the user will be able to select and deselect the datasets labelled UNICEF, according to preferences.

Select Malawi Health Facilities and Population

Select Infrastructures and DDR facilities

The map allows the users to geo-locate all health facilities in the country (e.g. tertiary, secondary and primary) as well as the institutions running them (e.g. Ministry of Health, Christian Health Association of Malawi, etc.). By clicking on the crosses on the map, it is possible to get the details of each facility on a window on the bottom left side, such the facility’s name, detailed location, contacts, etc.

Example: by clicking on the cross you can get all facility’s details

The link to the Malawi Disaster Management Portal has already been shared by COOPI with all humanitarian agencies in the country.

COOPI is member of the UN-led working group on Data/Information Management (IM) for the Covid-19 response. This technical group is given mandate to design systems for data collection and analysis, thus facilitating the tracking of all the necessary indicators to ensure national sit-rep reports are produced timely and regularly, and that decision-makers are provided with data.

This last result is one of the several outputs of the partnership between COOPI and the European Union Humanitarian Aid in Malawi over the past 10 years. Thanks to this long-lasting collaboration, COOPI managed to produce different tools to improve the capacity of local authorities and support vulnerable communities in getting better prepared to different disasters.