Abstract
Abstract. Geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) from Earth-observing satellites offer opportunities for rapid assessment of areas endemic for vector-borne diseases including estimates of populations at risk and guidance to intervention strategies. This presentation deals with GIS and RS applications for the control of schistosomiasis in China and the Philippines. It includes large-scale risk mapping including identification of suitable habitats for Oncomelania hupensis, the intermediate host snail of Schistosoma japonicum. Predictions of infection risk are discussed with reference to ecological transformations and the potential impact of climate change and the potential for long-term temperature increases in the North as well as the impact on rivers, lakes and water resource developments. Potential integration of geospatial mapping and modeling in schistosomiasis surveillance and response systems in Asia within Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) guidelines in the health societal benefit area is discussed.
Highlights
Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) from Earth-observing satellites offer high-resolution spatio-temporal datasets for rapid assessment of areas endemic for vector-borne diseases, including estimates of populations at risk and guidance to intervention strategies
This review focuses on implementing a geospatial health infrastructure for control of schistosomiasis and other helminthic infections in Southeast Asia, with special focus on the People’s Republic of China and The Philippines, using a model working group approach
Medical workers often have additional access to decades of excellent published field and laboratory studies, but much data in the early literature are imprecisely located by geographic coordinates, and often must be looked up by name or other identifiers of study site in gazetteer databases such as the NIMA GEOnet Names Server before it can be useful in a GIS spatial decision support system for a given disease agent
Summary
Geographic information systems (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) from Earth-observing satellites offer high-resolution spatio-temporal datasets for rapid assessment of areas endemic for vector-borne diseases, including estimates of populations at risk and guidance to intervention strategies. The Philippines represents a challenge to control activities, while China has been able to bring the number of infected people down from around 11-12 million, at peak prevalence according to Chen (1999), to currently less than 300,000 and has embarked on a strategy to eliminate the disease as a public health problem. This means that they are at a point where mass drug administration (MDA) can be replaced by surveillance and response, a situation focusing on geospatial screening, sensitive diagnostics and immediate response directed at transmission hotspots (Bergquist et al, 2015). The key barriers have been the speed of adoption of geospatial analysis tools by health scientists and the quality of GIS friendly medical databases
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