Geographic Information Systems for Public Health and Epidemiology

 

T.Z.Bregvadze, S.I.Tabagari

 

I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Geography-Geological Faculty

«AIETI» Medical School   

 

 

            Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are “automated systems for the capture, storage, retrieval, analysis, and display of spatial data” [1]. GIS has also been described as the technology side of a new discipline, geographic information science [2], which is defined as “research on the generic issues that surround the use of GIS technology, impede its successful implementation, or emerge from an understanding of its potential capabilities”.  The competent parts of a GIS include net just a database, but also spatial or map information and some mechanism to link them together. Recently, GIS has emerged as an innovative and important component of many projects in public health and epidemiology.

            Epidemiologist have traditionally used maps when analyzing associations between location, environment, and disease. GIS is particularly well suited for studding these associations because of its spatial analysis and display capabilities. Recently GIS has been used in the surveillance and monitoring of vector-borne diseases [3], water-borne diseases [4], in environmental health [5], and the analysis of disease policy and planning [6]. In this investigations the spatial and ecologic data are combined with epidemiologic data to enable analysis of variables that play important  roles in disease transmission. This integration of data is essential for health policy planning, decision making, and ongoing surveilance efforts. So GIS enabled researchers to locate high prevalence areas and populations at risk, identify areas in need of resources, and make decisions on resource allocation [6].

            GIS applications show the power and potential of such system for addressing important health issues at the international, national, and local levels. It allow users to examine and display health data in new and highly effective ways. Spatial analysis refers to the ability to manipulate spatial data into different forms and extract additional meaning as a result. There are three general types of spatial analysis tasks: visualization, exploratory data analysis, and model building.

Among the most important exploratory methods for epidemiology and public health are methods for identifying space-time clusters or “hot spots” of disease.

Modeling, the final class of spatial analysis methods, includes procedures for testing hypothesis about the causes of disease and the nature and processes of disease transmission. In general, modeling involves the integration of GIS with standard statistical and epidemiological methods. GIS can assist in generating data for input to epidemiologic models, displaying the results of statistical analysis, and modeling processes that occur over space. The first two points are evident in recent regression-based analyses of disease risk, such as the study of Lyme disease [3].

            Abone all, GIS should be seen as improving the set of tools to promote public health. Good epidemiologic science and good geographic information science go hand in hand. The base of research and scholarship using GIS in the health sciences cannot be ignered. A first step would be to integrate instruction on GIS into  educational  programme  in public health.

 

REFERENCES

 

1.      Clarke K.C. Analytical and computer cartography. 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J; Prentice-Hall., 1995

2.      Goodchild M.F. Geographical information science. International Journal of Geographical Information Systems 1992; 6(1)

3.      Glass G.F, Schwarts B.S, Morgan J.M III, Johnson D.T, Noy P.M, Israel E. Environmental risk factors for Lyme disease identified with geographic information systems. Am J Public Health 1995; 85;944-8

4.      Clarke K.C, Osleeb J.R, Sherry J.M, Meert J.P, Larsson R.W. The use of remote sensing and geographic information systems in UNICEF’s dracunculiasis (Guinea worm) eradication effort. Prew Vet. Med. 1991; 11;  229-235

5.      Barnes S, Peck A. Mapping the future of health care: GIS applications in Health care analysis. Geographic Information systems 1994; 4; 31-33

6.      Tempalski B.J. The case of Guinea worm: GIS as a tool for the analysis of disease control policy. Geographic Information Systems 1994; 4; 32-8

 

 

 

 

Географические Информативные Системы для Общественного Здравоохранения и Эпидемиологии

 

Т.З.Брегвадзе, С.И.Табагари

 

Тбилисский Государственный Университет, Факультет  Географии-Геологии

Высшая Медицинская Школа «АИЭТИ»

 

 

Географические Информативные Системы (ГИС) – эта технологическая  сторона новой  дисциплины, географической  информативной науки, определяемое как  « автоматические системы добычи, хранения, воспроизведения, анализа и демонстрации пространственных данных.  ГИС представлен, как инновационный и  важный компонент многих проектов по общественному здравоохранению и эпидемиологии. Предложено обучение ГИС в рамках учебной программы по общественному здравоохранению.