A comprehensive data platform can support the entire process of disease surveillance, preparedness and response
The relationship between mapping systems and healthcare has existed for centuries. In fact, the earliest recorded map visualisation goes back to 1694 and the plague containment in Italy. Over the last 300 years, the value of maps as a communication tool for the understanding and tracking of infectious diseases, be it the yellow fever, cholera, the 1918 influenza pandemic or the new- age MERS-CoV, has only heightened. A review of health geographic information system (GIS) literature has shown that almost 30 per cent of all volumes is focussed on infectious disease mapping. This is why one of our biggest champions in the ongoing fight against COVID-19 is the use of GIS.
COVID-19 is a challenge like no other in recent times as the virus spread strikingly fast from China to the rest of the world. For comparison, one can look at how MERS took about 30 months to infect a thousand people, SARS took around four months and the Coronavirus reached that figure in just 48 days. When a disease has the capacity to travel so quickly, information, too, has to keep up and in fact, outpace it. This is the reason why map-based dashboards have become crucial. So much so that among the top 10 requested applications of GIS services as early as February was the Coronavirus dashboard. The interactive maps can locate as well as tally confirmed infections, fatalities and recoveries, along with graphs detailing the progression of the virus.
Viewers can see the time and day of the most recent data update from various sources, which include authoritative bodies such as the WHO and the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. If you look at India, the National Centre for Disease Control is the source of authoritative data via the application programme interface (API). Epidemiologists are utilising GIS to map disease occurrence measured against multiple parameters such as demographics, environment, geographies, past occurrences and so on, to understand the origin of future outbreaks, the spread pattern as well as its intensity to be able to implement control, preventative as well as surveillance measures.
It is an undeniable fact that in order to identify at-risk populations in real-time, public health agencies, policymakers as well as administrators need GIS to be able to understand outbreak patterns and plan targetted intervention such as the evaluation of available facilities and increasing their healthcare capacities. Apart from this, there is also the need for effective communication amid all the supporting agencies as well as citizens so that there can be a coordinated response to the crisis. Since location is the common denomination between all these, GIS provides the capability to create a common operating picture that will allow multi-agency collaboration.
Using GIS functionality such as spatial analytics, mapping and location intelligence, health officials and Government agencies have access to confirmed and active cases, fatalities and recoveries. Since COVID-19 impacts demographics in a disproportionate manner, such as the elderly and those with co-morbidities, mapping criteria such as social vulnerability, age and other factors have been helping in monitoring at-risk groups across regions. Based on the available data, agencies can take a look at the relevant area of interest such as hospitals, location of the cases being reported, areas that have been affected, capacities as well as key demographic data in order to create strategies that can aid in the descriptive, predictive as well as prescriptive stages of combating COVID-19.
Ranging from mapping the outbreak source, site selection for treatment, monitoring supply chains, resource location and so on, GIS has contributed significantly to fighting the virus and speeding up efforts in places that they are needed the most.
Modern GIS technologies are based around web tools that improve data sharing and offer real-time information that can aid critical decision- making. A comprehensive GIS platform can support the entire process of disease surveillance, preparedness and response. With the world now shifting to a new normal, epidemiologists expect that outbreaks like this could happen more frequently in the future. Hence, GIS will continue to be crucial for tackling viruses.
(The writer is co-founder and director of a technology company)
