Methodology

The healthsites.io Campaign Methodology

healthsites.io operates a structured, two-stage methodology for improving health facility data quality and translating validated data into sustainable health policy. Each stage builds directly on the preceding one. Together they form a complete cycle — from data production to institutional change.

This methodology has been developed and field-tested in Senegal in collaboration with the Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Action, OpenStreetMap Senegal, WHO, and UNICEF. It is aligned with the Health Data Collaborative Digital Data Governance Reference Framework, the African Union Continental Health Data Governance Framework, and SDG 3.8.1 on universal health coverage.

Étape 1 — Validation Campaign

Produce a verified, open baseline of health facility data

Étape 1 is a structured field campaign that produces a validated, GPS-verified census of health facilities in a target medical region. All validated data is published to OpenStreetMap — permanently available, freely accessible, and maintained by a trained local community.

The campaign follows five operational phases:

Phase 1 — Human-Centred Design and Stakeholder Workshops Local communities, health authorities, and OpenStreetMap contributors co-design the campaign. Priority health user stories are developed — concrete, community-defined needs that drive the data validation process. This builds social licence and ensures the work addresses real healthcare priorities rather than assumed ones.

Phase 2 — Data Audit and Reconciliation Datasets from the Ministry of Health, National Statistics Office, and OpenStreetMap are systematically compared and harmonised using a reusable, open-source R-based toolset. This highlights data gaps, reconciles naming conventions, and establishes a quality baseline before any field work begins.

Phase 3 — Geospatial Workshop Local OpenStreetMap contributors receive hands-on training in OpenStreetMap, QGIS, and health data product development. Participants learn to produce decision-support maps and reports directly useful to district health authorities.

Phase 4 — Field Validation Local teams conduct on-site visits to health facilities across the target region. Each visit confirms GPS location, facility type, operational status, services available, and key attributes identified by the priority user stories. Data is cross-referenced with health personnel interviews.

Phase 5 — Data Publication and Sharing All validated data is uploaded to OpenStreetMap and shared directly with the national Ministry of Health and relevant authorities. From this point the data is freely available to any organisation — humanitarian, governmental, academic, or private sector — without restriction.

Étape 1 outputs: - A complete, GPS-verified census of health facilities in the target region - A trained cohort of local OpenStreetMap validators with ongoing stewardship capacity - A set of priority user stories confirmed against field reality - Decision-support maps and reports for the Ministry of Health - A permanently maintained open dataset on OpenStreetMap - A reusable open-source data reconciliation toolset

Timeline: Four months across all five phases.

Étape 2 — Evidence and Policy Engagement

Turn validated data into institutional change and sustainable financing

Étape 2 begins where the validation campaign ends. It takes the data produced in Étape 1 and applies it systematically to the three institutional challenges that determine whether health facility data has lasting policy impact: clinical confirmation, data governance, and public financing.

Étape 2 has three interconnected components.

Component A — User Story Confirmation

The priority user stories developed in Étape 1 identified facilities that are likely to meet specific community health needs based on data attributes. Étape 2 physically confirms whether those facilities are genuinely suitable — not what the data says, but what is true on the ground.

In Saint-Louis, Étape 1 identified 35 facilities likely to support emergency pregnancy referrals based on the user story: "As a pregnant mother I want to know where the nearest emergency health service is so that I can plan for potential complications during childbirth." Component A returns to those 35 facilities with clinical expertise to confirm their actual suitability. The result is a verified, clinically meaningful dataset directly actionable by health planners and emergency responders.

This component actively invites the participation of health practitioners — obstetricians, midwives, emergency care clinicians, and community health workers — who can assess facility suitability against real clinical standards rather than data proxies alone.

Component B — NSO–MoH–OSM Interoperability

One of the clearest lessons from the Saint-Louis campaign was the absence of a formal data governance bridge between three registries that should, in principle, be complementary: the Ministry of Health facility registry, the National Statistics Office dataset, and OpenStreetMap.

Component B establishes this bridge. Working with the Ministry of Health and the National Statistics Office, healthsites.io documents a formal interoperability framework — harmonising naming conventions, coordinate systems, update cycles, and data ownership responsibilities across all three sources.

This is not a technical integration exercise alone. It is a governance process. The output is a documented, replicable interoperability model that the Ministry of Health can adopt nationally, that LAPES and the MoHSA Health Economics Unit can study as a governance case, and that future campaigns in other districts can apply from the outset rather than learning the lesson retrospectively.

Component C — Ministry of Finance Advocacy

Health facility data is currently funded as a project cost — a recurring expenditure that disappears when programmes end. The healthsites.io model produces something categorically different: a permanently maintained national asset, sustained by the OpenStreetMap community and freely available to any stakeholder indefinitely.

Component C supports the Ministry of Health in translating this distinction into a concrete, evidence-based argument to the Ministry of Finance. Drawing on the methodology of the MoHSA Health Economics Unit — which is mandated to build advocacy arguments to mobilise domestic resources and monitor progress towards universal health coverage — this component develops the economic case for validated health facility data as public infrastructure rather than project expenditure.

The argument is grounded in the PNDSS 2019–2028 financing axis and the Universal Health Coverage monitoring framework for SDG 3.8.1. It draws on the Saint-Louis dataset as a concrete proof of concept: data validated in 2021 remains freely available and actively used today, at zero ongoing cost to the Ministry of Health.

Étape 2 outputs: - A clinically confirmed dataset of facilities meeting priority user story criteria - A formal NSO–MoH–OSM interoperability framework, documented and replicable - An evidence-based advocacy brief for the Ministry of Finance - A governance model for sustainable health facility data stewardship - A case study publishable by LAPES, the MoHSA HEU, or academic partners

The Campaign Cycle

Each medical region follows the same progression. Étape 1 must be completed before Étape 2 begins. Districts currently active:

Alignment with Global Frameworks

This methodology is designed to operate within — and actively strengthen — established global health data governance frameworks:

Health Data Collaborative — Digital Data Governance Reference Framework The HDC-DDG framework calls for country-level implementation across regulatory and policy development, structural and procedural mechanisms, and technical and interoperability standards. The healthsites.io methodology addresses all three in the field. The Étape 2 interoperability and advocacy components correspond directly to what HDC Chapter 2 — the country-adoption toolkit — calls for.

African Union Continental Health Data Governance Framework Component B of Étape 2 directly supports the institutional alignment sought between Ministries of Health, National Statistics Offices, and local data communities — a thread actively pursued with Africa CDC.

SDG 3.8.1 — Universal Health Coverage The validated data produced in Étape 1, and confirmed in Étape 2, contributes directly to the health facility data infrastructure required for UHC effective coverage monitoring.

FAIR Data Principles and Open Science All data produced by this methodology is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. All methods, tools, and datasets are openly documented and freely available for replication.

Get Involved

healthsites.io welcomes engagement from organisations that share a commitment to open health data and equitable access to health services.

Fund an Étape 1 campaign — support the validation of health facility data in a priority medical region. View active campaigns

Support an Étape 2 engagement — contribute clinical expertise, research capacity, or financing to the evidence and policy work in Saint-Louis. Contact us

Partner with us — co-govern a Digital Public Good that puts accurate health facility data in the hands of those who need it most. Contact us