Application of GIS and Remote Sensing in

Disease Prevention and Control with special Reference to Assam

Presentor: Moderator:

Dr. Ramkesh Prasad Dr. (Mrs.) Rupali Baruah, MD

PG Student Professor

Department of Community Medicine

Gauhati Medical College

Remote Sensing

Remote Sensing is the science and art of acquiring information about material objects, area, or phenomenon, without coming into physical contact with the objects, or area, or phenomenon under investigation.

Passive : Makes use of sensors that detect the reflected or emitted electro-magnetic radiation from natural sources.

Active : Makes use of sensors that detect reflected responses from objects that are irradiated from artificially-generated energy sources (RADAR, LIDAR, SONAR, Infra-red).

History of Remote Sensing

Our ancestors used the primitive method of RS (e.g. standing on high cliff or tree to view the landscape), then came the use of lenses.

1858 Nadar used balloon to photograph Bievre,

France

1860 James Black took photographs from balloon

over Boston

1882 Archibald took first aerial photographs

from kites

1903 carrier pigeons were used for surveillance

activities

The two great Wars and the Cold war added new

dimensions to Remote Sensing technology

Components of Remote Sensing

Sensors Processing

Application

Energy Source

Platforms

Active

Passive

Interpretation&

Analysis

Components of Remote Sensing

Geographical Information System

• Is a computer-aided DBMS and mapping

technology that organizes and stores large

amount of multipurpose information.

• Allows visual display of tabular information,

providing an interface between the data and map.

• Makes it easy to present information to key

decision-makers quickly, efficiently and

effectively.

HISTORY OF GIS

1854 John Snow depicted Cholera outbreak in London using points to represent the location of cases, possibly the earliest use of geographic method.

1911-38 Malaria commission forecasted several epidemic in

India1985 CHAART took a project on the application of RS & GIS to

human health problems in China.

1993 Health Maps were created jointly by WHO & UNICEF

1998 Prediction of villages at risk of Filaria transmission in Nile

Delta (Hassan et al)

1994 High/low malaria risk villages in Mexico (Beck et al)

2001 Predictive habitat modeling for Anopheles dirus in whole of

India using GIS (Srivastava et al)

2002-06 Development of early warning system for JE (RMRC,

Dibrugrah)

Functions of GIS

• Data entry

• Display

• Editing of Data

• Database query

• Overlay

• Statistical extraction

• Output generation

What is Overlay?

USES OF GIS REMOTE SENSING

1.Agriculture & Forestry

2.Urban and Rural Planning

3.Health Services

4.Disaster Management

5.Marketing Research

6.Geology and Archeology

USE OF GIS & REMOTE SENSING IN HEALTH

1. Emergency Medical Services Delivery, 108, 911

2. Surveillance of Vector borne diseases: Malaria,

Filaria, JE etc.

3. Monitoring contamination of ground water

4. Air pollution and its impact on human health

Recent uses:

• Study on Cholera in Bangladesh in collaboration with

CDC

• Early warning system for the outbreak of JE in

Dibrugarh, Assam

• In Patna: to assist immunization activities in interior

areas using GPS in collaboration with CDC

• Leprosy elimination in Tamil Nadu in collaboration

with DANIDA

• Evaluation of Immunization coverage using GIS in

Gujarat

USES IN PUBLIC HEALTH

• Determining geographical distribution of disease

• Analyzing spatial and temporal trends

• Mapping of population at risk and stratify risk factors

• Assessing health care needs of a community and

resource allocation

• Planning and targeting interventions

• Monitoring disease and intervention over time

• Forecasting epidemics

• Identify gaps in immunizations

• Monitor the utilization of health centres

• Route health workers, equipment and supplies to

service locations

• Locate the nearest health facility.

DISEASES CURRENTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE USING REMOTE SENSING

AND GIS IN INDIA

• JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS

• MALARIA

• DENGUE

• FILARIA

Early warning systems for JE in Assam

A Project was done on “Development of an early warning system for the outbreak of JE with the help of Remote Sensing and GIS in conjunction with the epidemiological studies in Assam”

by RMRC, Dibrugarh and NESAC, Umiam from 2002-2006

Source: RMRC, Dibrugarh

Source: RMRC, Dibrugarh

Source: RMRC, Dibrugarh

WebGIS based Planning & Facility management System developed by

NRHM, Assam

Bongaigaon

Abhayapuri FRU - Bongaigaon

Abhayapuri FRU - Bongaigaon

Abhayapuri FRU - Bongaigaon

Abhayapuri FRU - Bongaigaon

Remote Sensing with GIS and Primary Health Care

• Intersectoral coordination

• Appropriate technology

• Technical co-operation among countries

• Community participation

THANK YOU