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GIS and Public HealthJudy Seidel, MEDes, PhD
Alberta Health Services
CIPHI, Calgary, October 03, 2011
Overview of Presentation
What is GIS
History of Maps in Health
GIS Components and Benefits
Applications Around the World
What is GIS?
Geographic Information Systems & Science
What is GIS?
a computer-based system for input, storage, manipulation, and output of geographic information
a class of software
combines software with hardware, data, a user, etc., to solve a problem, support a decision, help to plan
(GoodChild 1997)
Why is GIS Important to PH?
GIS provides a digital lens to explore the connections between people, their health and well-being, and the changing physical and social environments.
(Cromely & McLafferty, 2002)
Geography and Public Health
Populations at risk
Health outcomes
Risk factors
Associations between risk factors & health outcome
Health interventions
History of Maps
Hippocrates5th-6th BCE
• Effect of location on one’s health (On Airs, Waters and Places)
• Spatial distribution of disease (beginning of Medical Geography)
Plague 1300sand 1600s
Source: New York Academy of Medicine Library
Dr. Valentine SeamanNew York 1798
• Plotted incidence of yellow fever
• Location-related
• Seasonal
Yellow Fever New York 1798
Source: National Library of Medicine
John Snow mid 1800s
Cholera outbreak in London
Present day
John Snow
John Snow
• Distribution of deaths
• Cluster near the Broad Street pump
• Father of Epidemiology?
Father of Medical Geography?
Clusters of Cholera in London
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Snow
GIS is More than Mapping
patterns (disease, exposure, environmental conditions)
relationships (people, places, interactions, environments)
trends (over time and space)
GIS Functions
Spatial database management
Visualization and mapping
Spatial Analysis
Internet and web-based GIS
Public health informatics
Mobile device – capture & retrieve field data
Real-time GIS
Digital Spatial Layers
Source: http://www.thepiazza.org.uk/bb/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=
Source: ESRI 2009
Map Types
GIS Applications in AHS
Standardize geographic areas
Population demographics
Accessibility to health services
New facility planning
Human resources planning
Health service utilization
Chronic disease site planning
Defining Rural-Urban Continuum
Source: Alberta Health Services, 2011
Age & Income Distribution in Alberta
Source: Alberta Health Services, 2011
New Hospital Catchment Areas
Source: Alberta Health Services, 2011
1 Hour Access to Hospital Services
Source: Alberta Health Services, 2011
Human Resource Planning
Source: Alberta Health Services, 2011
Public Health Applications
Chronic disease prevention
Community health assessment & planning
Injury Prevention
Communicable disease prevention & control
Environmental health
Emergency and preparedness response
Chronic Disease Prevention
Health promotion (alcohol and tobacco use)Location of product sales, SES and public schools
Cancer clusters (location, exposures, SES, housing)
Diseases (age, sex and race adjusted)
Classic Cancer Mortality Map
Source: Globocan, 2002
Heart Disease
Source: ESRI 2009
Community Health Assessment & Planning
Access to health services (distance decay, SES, availability)
Community health assessments (SES, housing, language, work type, ethnicity, health issues and outcomes)
Public health observatories (e.g., UK, Saskatoon)
Bhutan Access to Health Services
Source: Bhutan Living Standard Survey, 2007
Injury Prevention
Intentional injury
Unintentional injury
Child Pedestrian Accidents
Source: http://data.gov.uk 2011
Death Rates by All Injuries
Source: Centre for Disease Control, 2011
Communicable Disease
Vaccine preventable diseases (targeting immunization programs, identifying and predicting pockets of need)
Vector-borne and parasitic diseases (track spread of vector & disease outbreaks)
Sexually transmitted diseases (hot spot analysis)
Tuberculosis (spread and hot spots)
Communicable disease surveillance system (putting it all together)
Environmental Health
Nonionizing radiation (potential exposure for future follow up)
Air emissions (target communities for health screening)
Drinking water pollution (target communities at risk of septic contamination, nitrates and VOCs)
Environmental toxins (potential exposure, hazardous sites)
Environmental equity – communities at disproportional risk
Food safety
Environmental Health
Animal health and relationship to human health
Public Health Tracking Network (CDC – integrated health and environmental data for monitoring, responding to and reducing the burden)
http://ephtracking.cdc.gov/showHome.action
Water Monitoring
Source: GESAP 2009
Cranberry Bogs and Tree Spray
Brody JG, et al 2002
BSE Outbreaks
Source: OIE, 2003
What can GIS Do?
It can inform and education (professionals & public)
It can support decision making (evidence-based)
It can assist in planning (safety, effectiveness, efficiency, quality)
It can help modify or change practices
It can identify spatial relationship that might otherwise be overlooked.
The application of GIS to Public Health and Environmental Health is limited
by only your IMAGINATION!
