California Department of Public Health’s Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health (MCAH) programs are working together to use GIS technology from Esri to identify geographic locations with people who are eligible for but not receiving WIC services.
“Portrayal of counts and percentages of WIC-eligible women who were not receiving services told us only part of the story,” said Thomas Stopka, an epidemiologist from California Department of Public Health. “We were interested in locating regions with higher densities of unmet need and statistically significant clusters of need on the state, county, and local levels.”
Results of these efforts are used to guide resource allocation decisions, target outreach efforts, assess program outcomes, and help direct public health policy. The information has been used to inform funding decisions at the state, county, and local levels. The work has also provided information to local WIC directors to help determine whether new or expanded clinic services were needed.
For more information on GIS technology for public health, visit esri.com/health.
