Access to contraception is a fundamental right that empowers families and promotes improved reproductive health for citizens

In Uganda, the Amara Hub, under the Open Mapping Grants program, is working with the Ministry of Health to map contraceptive access sites in Northern Uganda in the newly formed cities of Lira, Gulu, and Arua. The project seeks to improve access to contraception by mapping and providing easy access to essential contraceptive health information and services through open online channels.

Creating an interactive crowdsourcing tool allows community members to receive timely updates and give anonymous feedback directly to the city and health officials. As a result, citizens and authorities will be empowered to make better use of data to drive local action.

Amara Hub has completed the project’s first three phases and is currently implementing the final phase, which includes printing physical maps and hosting information-sharing and advocacy forums in each city.

This project aimed at strengthening the capacity of community health workers who play a crucial role in bringing services closer to the community.

A total of 31 volunteer community health workers from Lira, Gulu, and Arua cities were trained and engaged in field data collection using GPS-enabled tablets. After that, data was collected, cleaned, and produced on static maps. The maps will be shared with the respective stakeholders: government health officials, health facilities, and local NGOs supporting reproductive health services. In addition, the generated mapped data will also be available to approximately one million young people (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2018) living in Lira, Gulu, and Arua.

Through this project, Amara Hub, and mapping partners, Kakebe Technologies and the Youth Mappers Chapter of Gulu University, have been equipped with new skills and tools such as iD Editor, Tasking Manager, Kobo Toolbox, Organic Maps, OsmAnd, and QGIS. As a result, over 520 points of interest related to contraceptive health access in Arua, Gulu, and Lira have been added to OSM. These points include hospitals, health centers, clinics, and pharmacies. As a result of this exercise, the team discovered and added non-conventional access points like bars, supermarkets, hotels, and guest houses.

Future plans for the project include extending these services to other public health initiatives and thus meeting the local demand for geodata to support health informatics programs in Northern Uganda, as the resultant maps and databases can also be used by government health officials and health facilities to support the planning of health interventions, monitoring outbreaks, identifying vulnerable populations, and accurate communication of health data.