Design and Implementation of a Web-Based GIS : for Public Healthcare Decision Support System in Zaria Metropolis

Sharing of health information is critical to preventing diseases, responding to emergencies, educating the public and also Policy makers. Protecting privacy and confidentiality of health information remains important cornerstones of the public health system. The proposed system provides opportunities for the healthcare worker to gain access to vital information that can aid him/her in the location of viable hospitals for the patients to fully enjoy available enhanced healthcare services. The developed model makes it possible to locate the nearest hospitals as well as the services they rendered. This study explored the use of open source software, web server is Apache extended with support for PHP, MySQL and ARCGIS 9.2. Authentication is built into the system as security pass mark for accessing information in the data base.