In today’s lesson, we discussed the application with GIS software in analyzing problems surrounding health geography. Four topics were introduced in the lectures which are: spatial epidemiology, environmental hazards, modeling health services, and identifying health inequalities.
Due to spatial heterogeneity in data, for example, population is unevenly distributed where people are free to relocate as well as the intrinsic characteristics of the population such as age and sex. Spatial epidemiology seeks to understand and describe spatial variation in disease risks specifically at an individual level and small areas.
For environmental hazards, GIS can also efficiently highlight existing environmental hazards within an environment through surveillance and identify population exposed as well as its impact. Through the multidimensional approach, GIS helps authorities identify vulnerable areas and create mitigation plans for the exposed population.