USE OF GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS TO STUDY THE HENDRA VIRUS DISEASE OUTBREAKS IN AUSTRALIA
AbstractThe objectives of this paper are to 1) provide an overview of how Geographical Information Systems (GIS) approaches such as spatial analysis, modelling & mapping were employed to analyse and visualise the Hendra Virus incidence in the study area; and 2) to discuss the potential for the above approaches in the field of spatial epidemiology and disease mapping. The introduction and implementation of GIS technology in public health and epidemiology has benefited analysis of the prevalence and geographic distribution of disease outbreaks especially in a space-time sense. It is being widely used for disease monitoring, research hypotheses generation and identifying populations at risk for its high capability in data interpretation, manipulation and modelling. This paper further concentrates on discussing how GIS can be utilised by transferring spatial analysis, modelling and mapping techniques into successful disease mitigation strategies by identifying the population at-risk. This would enable disease monitoring and prevention programs by generating risk maps for potential exposure to Hendra Virus and develop priority area classifications.