ESRI Australia

Dealing with Pandemics

Location is vital to the successful understanding and response to infectious disease outbreaks. Disease spreads geographically, and understanding the disease's relationship with the location of people and institutions, the climate, and other kinds of landscapes is vital in preparing for detecting and responding to disease outbreaks.

Because GIS technology relates many kinds of data to geographic location, it excels in tracking not only disease spread but also laboratory specimen and medical supply whereabouts, hospital bed availability, testing facility proximity, vulnerable population locations, and medical personnel distribution.

Location intelligence delivers early warning to enable agencies to prepare for potential outbreaks, enabling public health officials to make effective decisions - at local, state, national, and global levels.

During an outbreak, GIS provides tools that speed the collection of accurate field data. Complex statistical and other analyses applied with GIS technology provide relevant location intelligence information to support sound decisions. GIS analysis can, for example, locate a potential disease hot spot and calculate a nearby hospital's ability to handle the expected increase in service demand if an outbreak should occur.

Public health emergencies are usually not of short duration. Effects of a disease outbreak (or an environmental disaster such as a chemical spill) have the potential for long-term impacts on the health and well-being of a community. Public health organisations rely on GIS analysis tools to assess data collected in the process of monitoring long-term health effects.

Health professionals can use location intelligence to:

  • Discover geographic origins of symptomatic populations
  • Identify specific locations of vulnerable at-risk populations
  • Identify congregate groups targeted for preventive measures
  • Create maps to help organisations establish field clinics and locate medical supplies
  • Provide information relevant for community leadership planning and response

 

Controlling Disease Outbreaks

Find out how organisations from New Zealand, India, Hong Kong and the US have used location intelligence to prepare for, detect and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.

ESRI Australia Connect