Healthcare system capacity

Sierra Leone Ebola Outbreak - Location & Status of Ebola Treatment Units and Cumulative Case Totals for each District (as of 16 Nov 2014)

Once an understanding of the geographical location and type of healthcare facilities is established the capacity can then be mapped for each type of service provided including:

• the number of inpatient beds per facility

• the number of operating theatres per facility

• the number of intensive care beds per facility

Strategic or operational?

Both

Basemap, baseline or situational?

Baseline and Situational

When might it be produced?

Healthcare system capacity information are baseline information that should be available and mapped as soon as an emergency / disaster where health is impacted occurs

Intended audience

Invariably health is linked to many other vulnerabilities and is impacted by all eleven clusters in the UN system (sectors of the humanitarian system that help to coordinate a humanitarian response), in particular:

• Nutrition

• Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

• Logistics - transport / access

The intended audience includes a variety of actors either directly involved in health, or those supporting health needs:

• Ministry of Health / Department for Health

• National Health Care Providers

• Local Government

• Civil Society / Community Organisations

• Affected communities / population

• National and International health related NGOs

• National Red Cross / International Federation of Red Cross

• World Health Organisation

• Emergency Medical Teams /Emergency Medical Teams Coordination Cell

Influence on humanitarian decisions

Will be dependent on if the maps are strategic, operational or both and will vary by intended audience. To be updated based on planned expert interviews.

Methods

Access to timely and accurate data is essential for a health response. It is important to get the best available data although it may not always be perfect.

Robust information management and governance is essential when accessing, storing and visualising health data. The agreed use of the data must be established and recorded from the outset.

A process of data manipulation may be required to ensure individuals, families or villages can not be identified. A number of methods can be used to achieve this including the suppression of small numbers, aggregation of data to a higher level and minimising the use of other data / detail on a map that could make identification easier. These checks must be in place to ensure patient’s right to privacy and dignity are maintained.

Data

• Number of beds per facility

• Number of operating theatres per facility

• Number of critical care beds

Resources

• Global Health Cluster

• World Health Organisation

• Emergency Medical Teams

• Health Resource Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS)

• Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS)

• The Sphere Handbook - Minimum standards in Health action

• Multi-Cluster / Sector Initial Rapid Needs Assessment (MIRA)

• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

• Ministry of Health / Department of Health (country specific)

• ACAPS