The Saint-Louis campaign was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic through the WHO–UNICEF GIS Working Group for COVAX. A team of 12 local OpenStreetMap community members validated health facilities across the medical district over three months, producing one of the most complete open health facility datasets in West Africa.
The user story that drove the work
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.
From 397 facilities visited, 35 were identified as likely to support emergency pregnancy referrals — based on facility type, bed availability, emergency health status, and contact information.
Étape 1 Results
Étape 2 — Evidence and Policy Engagement
Étape 1 produced the data. Étape 2 puts it to work — through clinical confirmation of the 35 emergency facilities, a formal NSO–MoH–OSM interoperability framework, and an evidence-based case to the Ministry of Finance for open data as permanent national infrastructure.
