PSI

1) Phase I is designed to answer managerial-level questions relating to the coverage and quality of coverage of the delivery system: Where is the product available? Its objective is to measure coverage and quality of coverage based on publicly available geographic maps, the population census, and the use of lot quality assurance sampling.

2) Phase II, which includes the introduction of GIS technology, attempts to answer managerial and strategic questions relating to the relationship between population need and delivery system coverage and quality: Is the product available where it is most needed? The objective of a phase II study is to measure coverage, quality of coverage, access and equity of access using existing GIS boundary and population layers and specially created maps of hot zones.

3) Phase III, also called “access and equity measurement” aims at defining delivery system catchment areas and measures of access and to answer managerial and strategic questions relating to the marketing plan. It measures access socially, using information on purchase and use behavior from population-based surveys for defining catchment areas.

4) The purpose of phase IV is to model delivery system efficiency improvement options. Its objectives are to increase the efficiency of PSI field activities through applications of GIS to reduce the cost of location decision making and distribution and field force management, and to increase the quality and utility of management information systems that monitor activities and inform stakeholders.

Studies that measure access of target population groups to PSI products or services use Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to spatially analyze the distribution of outlet locations and of target populations in selected areas. PSI has established an agreement with the World Health Organization’s Public Health Mapping and GIS unit that gives us access to the WHO HealthMapper software application, a mapping tool that is specifically designed to manage, map, and analyze public health data, as well as to the unit’s global database of geographic information.

PROJECT MAP PHASES AND COMPONENTS