Health GIS in India Dr. B. F. A. M. Peters Chief Adviser DANIDA bou@danlep.com J. S. R. K. Sastry Environmental Planner and Consultant DANLEP gis@danlep.com Nanda Paithankar Monitoring Adviser,DANLEP nanda@danlep.com With most of the international development funding and focus oriented towards health care systems, it is the best time and opportunity to develop a comprehensive and structured health GIS for the entire country Medical geography is relatively a new concept in India. Though GIS is being used to deliver a pizza on time, its immense applicability in delivering health care services is yet to be explored fully. The sheer size of our country, varied life styles, climatic zones and environmental conditions (all of which have a direct impact on health and ill-health) make it all the more important for India to have a health GIS. With most of the international development funding and focus oriented towards improving health care systems, this is, if not too late, the best opportunity and time to develop a comprehensive and structured health GIS for the entire country. In this article the authors make an attempt to share his views and experiences in developing a health GIS for Leprosy and TB mapping in the states of Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. DANLEP in GIS The Danida-assisted National Leprosy Eradication Programme (DANLEP) is one of the foremost organisations to deploy GIS in the health sector. A dynamic Drug Delivery Point (DDP) system delivers Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) treatment to the leprosy patients in their own villages at regular intervals. GIS in DANLEP started with the primary objective of mapping the drug delivery points vis-a-vis patient location for the entire state of Madhya Pradesh. With a view to catering to the needs of other health sector programmes, all other health facilities were also subsequently mapped. Unlike other sector programmes, the health sector programmes are largely dependent on the existing widely distributed government health system. It is beyond doubt that this government health system needs a technical management support to cater to the rural poor in improving the health service delivery. The Health GIS developed by DANLEP is being extensively used by other health sector programmes, viz., TB control, HIV/AIDS, Maintaining Cold Chain equipment for Pulse Polio, among others. Unlike other GIS users, Health GIS users (medical practitioners to a large extent) are relatively new to the concept of computer mapping. Though the field staff (at PHC level) have their own hand drawn, not to scale mapping system - its applicability as a management support tool is limited due to its inability to integrate datasets and prepare combined maps for districts or states. Availability of digital maps has increased manifold. Today, maps down to the village level, are available. These digital maps can be used as the base for the preparation of Health GIS. However, the administrative divisions of health being different, these digital maps need to be modified for incorporating health boundaries. A PHC boundary is generally the most feasible administrative boundary for a national-level health GIS. Some Successful Health GIS programmes in India Apart from DANLEP, many development agencies and government institutions are exploring Health GIS in India. Malaria Research Centre, New Delhi (www.malaria-tn.org), Vector control research center, Pondichherry, UNICEF, WHO for leprosy, TB, malaria and Pulse Polio programmes (www.whosea.org), DANPCB (Danida-assisted Blindness Control Programme), HIV/AIDS programmes in TN, Orissa and MP, to name a few.  
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