GIS in Public Health Practice
Chapter 1 Introduction and Overview
Section 1:Disease Mapping and Spatial Analysis
Chapter 2Basic Issues in Geographical Analysis
Chapter 3Disease Mapping: Basic Approaches and New Developments
Chapter 4Clustering of Disease
SECTION 2 GIS Applications in Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health Protection
Chapter 5GIS and Communicable Disease Control
Chapter 6New Zealand Experience of Salmonella Brandenburg Infection in Humans and Animals
Chapter 7Using GIS for Environmental Exposure Assessment: Experiences from the Small Area Health Statistics Unit
Chapter 8Using Modeled Outdoor Air Pollution Data for Health Surveillance
Chapter 9Health and Environment Information Systems
SECTION 3 GIS Applications in Healthcare Planning and Policy
Chapter 10Health GIS in the English National Health Service: A Regional Solution
Chapter 11GIS in District Public Health Work
Chapter 12Using GIS to Assess Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Services
Chapter 13GIS in Public Healthcare Planning: The United States Perspective
SECTION 4 Data Protection and E-Governance Issues in Public Health
Chapter 14GIS and Public Health in the Information Society
Chapter 15Data Protection and Medical Research
Chapter 16Public and Patient Attitudes Toward the Use of Their Health Information:A Review of the Literature
Chapter 17Mobile Phone Positioning Systems and the Accessibility of Health Services
Chapter 18Conclusions and Future Prospects
Public health has been defined as the “science and art of prolonging life, preventing disease, and promoting health through organized efforts of society.” The geographical perspective is a key aspect of public health. Populations and communities are geographically distributed and communities tend to have their own defining characteristics. Factors influencing health are commonly classified under four groups:
1. Inherited conditions
2. Environment, which includes both physical (i.e., air quality, water quality,soil characteristics, radiation) and socioeconomic aspects
3. Lifestyle
4. Healthcare
Each of these factors may have marked geographical variation. The practice of key elements of public health, including communicable disease control, environmental health protection, health needs assessment, planning and policy, surveillance, monitoring and evaluation, and operational public health management, is often explicitly geographical in nature. In addition, resource allocation at the macro and micro levels has a strong geographical component based on demography, health needs, existing provisions, and other factors. GIS, the definition of which has evolved from geographic information systems to geographic information science, involves a scientific problem-solving approach, encompassing the development and application of scientific methods to solve societal problems. It, therefore, has become an integral and essential part of public health research and practice.
Significant advances in scientific approaches to evaluating and using geographic information are taking place. Health information at a fine spatial resolution has become widely available; the same can be said for mapping technology. These developments enable public health practitioners to link and analyze data in new ways at the international, regional, and even street levels. As part of the drive to promote the use of GIS within public health, the European Commission supported the First European Conference on Geographic Information Sciences in Public Health held in Sheffield, United Kingdom, in September 2001. The scientific program drew upon many of the leading public health researchers and practitioners in this area. The breadth of knowledge and expertise at the conference and the clear interest in the field from practitioners from a wide variety of specialisms led us to believe that a book that recognized the breadth of the field would be useful. For this book, specifically selected expanded contributions were invited from participants to illustrate particular areas of application or address issues pertinent to the field. Further chapters were sought from other specialists to cover specific aspects. Many of the chapters have a United Kingdom or European focus, but the principles, issues, and methods discussed should be equally relevant beyond Europe. Although this is not the first book on GIS and public health, we believe it is the first to treat GIS as more than a technology in relation to public health practice. We hope it will be of benefit to practitioners, researchers, and students with an interest in public health.
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