Boost Community (Sabin Vaccine Institute)
Geospatial data: Unlocking the Unseen
June 10, 2022
“You can’t use an old map to explore a new world.”
These words hold as much literal and figurative truth today as they did when uttered by Albert Einstein years ago. For several years, Nigeria’s immunization professionals relied on hand-drawn maps built using local knowledge to navigate their localities as well as plan and offer immunization services. Human error made these maps prone to inaccuracies due to the use of imprecise scales as well as inadequate demographic and geospatial data. This ultimately resulted in many settlements being missed during immunization outreach services; however, all this is changing.