EXPLORING COMPOUND RISKS IN HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: A GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS OF YELLOW FEVER AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA
CHRISTOPHER IHINEGBU *
United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), Bonn, Germany and Department of Geography, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany and Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
UCHECHUKWU E. OGECHUKWU
Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
NKEMAKONAM N. UKATU
Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
KINGSLEY A. ONYENWERE
Department of Geography, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
This paper examined the vulnerability of Enugu State to compound risk in its healthcare system from a geospatial perspective. In particular, this paper applied the Multi-Criteria Evaluation (MCE) method using ArcGIS 10.7 software to demonstrate how GIS could be applied in public health management, using seven datasets. The information from these datasets was used to reclassify them into three levels of risk: high, moderate and low risk. The weighted overlay tool in ArcGIS 10.7 was used to assign weight values to the datasets according to their risk components to generate the compound risk map. Results revealed great disparities in the risk levels of the datasets across the wards. It also shows that 37.5%, 56.1% and 6.4% of wards in the study area were at high, moderate and low compound risk in their health system. This paper advocated that the drivers of vulnerability and exposure to healthcare risk should be addressed.
Keywords: Compound risks, COVID-19, yellow fever, GIS, healthcare system, Nigeria