Sambus Geospatial assists Health Service with location software

The Ghana Health Service (GHS), in collaboration with Sambus Geospatial Limited (SGL), has developed a location-intelligence platform to report and share information about the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Ghana.

The collaboration, which cost the private company GH¢350,000 in software installation and technical support, is part of its corporate social responsibility to support the GHS in managing the coronavirus outbreak as they provide data on all the cases recorded in Ghana.

The interface of the software is the dashboard that appears on the GHS website, COVID-19 section, on https://www.ghanahealthservice.org/covid19/ or https://arcg.is/1WGb5L.

Experience

Sambus Geospatial Limited, which has over 30 years of experience in the geospatial industry, is the official distributor for the Environmental Systems Research Institute’s (ESRI) Geographic Information System (GIS) software, ArcGIS, in Ghana, Nigeria, Liberia, Gambia and Gabon.

The initiative allows for the Covid-19 case data provided by the GHS to be integrated and visualised into the ArcGIS software to offer specific attributes to locations and numbers of affected persons.

The health service can then monitor all coronavirus cases and track the impact of the spread of the virus in order to make smart decisions to curb the spread.

In addition, public health and hospital administrators, government authorities and the general public can quickly recognise the numbers, demographics and locations which require urgent attention and commence rapid responses to contain the virus.

Critical

The Managing Director of SGL, Ms Akua Aboabea Aboah, told newsmen in Accra last Friday that real-time locational data was how “we will know where exactly the disease was recorded, maintain an accurate assessment of contact tracing and curb the spread of COVID-19 quickly so the world can be rid of this pandemic.”

The Business Development Manager of SGL, Mr John Lamptey, restated the company’s commitment to offer geospatial support and assistance to organisations at the frontline and encourage them to continue to use location intelligence in their fight against the virus.

“This will usher in innovative reporting platforms that can be used to analyse and cross reference symptom reports based on location for easier testing,” he said.