19 November 2025 Brazzaville
On GIS Day 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa officially launched the AFRO Geodatabase (AFRO GDB) a powerful new digital platform designed to help African countries improve health planning, emergency response, and data governance through high-quality geospatial information.
The new geodatabase brings something long needed in Africa’s health sector: a single, trusted source of accurate, country-verified administrative and health facility data. With this centralized system, countries can now store, manage, and share up-to-date information on administrative boundaries, population distribution, and health infrastructure all in one place.
A Smarter Way to Use Geospatial Data for Health
The AFRO GDB enables seamless integration with other digital systems through APIs, making it easier for Ministries of Health, partners, and data managers to connect real-time geospatial data with disease surveillance platforms, logistics systems, and national health information tools.
This kind of interoperability is essential for accurate mapping, disease tracking, vaccination planning, and fast decision-making during outbreaks.
Accuracy, Ownership, and Regional Consistency
One of the most valuable features of the AFRO Geodatabase is its collaborative, country-endorsed structure. The platform only uses officially validated datasets, ensuring:
- Data accuracy, even at the lowest administrative levels
- National ownership, since updates come directly from country teams
- Consistency across Africa, making regional analysis easier and more reliable
This is especially important for programs like polio eradication, where small differences in boundary data can significantly impact coverage analysis and immunization planning.
A User-Friendly System for Real-Time Updates
The AFRO GDB is designed to be practical and easy to use. Verified national focal points — including Ministry of Health data managers and WHO country office teams — can:
- Upload new boundary changes
- Update health facility lists
- Input revised population figures
The system then automatically compares the updates with previous versions, runs quality checks, and alerts users once the information has been reviewed and approved. This ensures countries always work with clean, validated, and up-to-date data.
Empowering Countries Through Capacity Building
To support roll-out, the AFRO GIS Centre is currently onboarding GIS focal points across the continent. These users are being trained on:
- How to manage geospatial datasets
- How to maintain accurate administrative boundaries
- How to integrate the data with national and regional platforms
This training will strengthen countries’ ability to analyze population coverage, improve mapping accuracy, and generate reliable health indicators.
A Major Step Forward for Digital Health in Africa
As Kebba Touray, Head of the WHO AFRO GIS Centre, explains:
“Reliable and integrated data are fundamental to effective health planning and emergency response. By consolidating verified national datasets, the AFRO Geodatabase will enable countries and partners to work from a single, trusted source of truth.”
With this platform, Ministries of Health can now easily maintain updated and authoritative information on health facilities, administrative boundaries, and population distribution. The result is better data accuracy, improved interoperability, and stronger regional coordination.
Driving Africa Toward Smarter, Faster, More Coordinated Health Decisions
The launch of the AFRO Geodatabase underscores WHO Africa’s commitment to helping countries harness digital innovation to strengthen public health. By making high-quality geospatial data more accessible, the platform brings the region one step closer to faster decision-making, more efficient emergency response, and more equitable health services for every African.