GIS for Health and the Environment

The research presented in this book demonstrates how GIS data is being used to show cause effect relationships between environmental conditions and health. Case studies demonstrate how GIS can be used to monitor tropical diseases, water quality, environmental toxicology, and overall rural health. The book also demonstrates how GIS can provide health researchers, planners, program managers, and policymakers with novel information about the distribution and interaction of disease risk factors, patterns of morbidity and mortality, and the allocation of health resources.

In the developing world, GIS has been used for many years in the agricultural, natural resource, urban and regional planning, and tourism sectors. The health sector, however, has only recently begun to use this powerful tool. GIS for Health and the Environment collects and records some of the first attempts to identify and explore opportunities to apply GIS for health in developing countries.

The editors

Don de Savigny directs IDRC's Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP), and is currently based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Panduka Wijeyaratne is Program Director (Tropical Diseases) for the Environmental Health Project in Arlington, VA, USA.