Preparing to create a database of elderly people’s position in Pathong Sub-district, Had Yai District, Songkhla Province, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

This article aims to create a database of elderly's house locations to reduce the risk of the elderly from infecting COVID-19 in Phatong Sub-district, Hat Yai District, Songkhla Province. The target groups of the study, which are purposively selected stakeholders, are 698 older people divided into two groups consisting of 219 and 479 older people with and without identifiable disease information in seven villages, including related sectors in the epidemic response operations. Creating the database is divided into five steps: preparation phase, research phase, plan establishing phase, plan implementation phase, and monitoring and evaluation phase. The results show that position and database of elderly people with and without identifiable disease in every household, agencies involved in epidemic response and prevention planning, particularly the village health volunteers' houses (VHVs) playing a very vital role in helping the elderly working with both public health centres in the area and Phatong Subdistrict Administrative Organization. Furthermore, the database also includes other topographical features visualized and detailed by GIS maps that are easy to search. As a result, helping the elderly and planning for coping and reducing the risk of infection among the elderly by relevant sectors by using these maps and databases is efficiently and effectively expedited both at the local level and high-level agencies for seeking cooperation.