Syllabus
Students will gain knowledge in the fundamentals of GIS for spatial data handling and analysis. By the end of the course, students will be able to:
Understand the role GIS plays in solving epidemiological problems in terms of infectious diseases;
Understand the data models in GIS, how to input, edit, manipulate and display spatial data, how to manage a spatial database;
Integrate spatial and non-spatial epidemiologic data in GIS;
Create quality thematic maps in GIS;
Carry out basic spatial analyses of epidemiological information from different data sources through specific GIS tools and procedures.
This course is a mix of lectures, demonstrations and practical time for hands-on data analysis in GIS software (ArcGIS, ESRI). The course takes place in a PC room with available GIS software.
No prior knowledge of GIS is required for this course.
Annotation
Epidemiology seeks to determine associations between exposure risk and disease that are spatially dependent. This course offers an introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and its application in epidemiological research.
GIS provides the standard platform for exploring spatial data and is a useful tool to capture, store, analyse, manage, and visualize spatial data. It helps in understanding spatial relationships between our environment and health (The One Health Concept will be considered).
The course emphasizes the potential of GIS as an epidemiological analysis tool for describing the magnitude and distribution of health problems and infectious agents, identifying health determinants and sources of infections and supporting health decision-making. Specific topics include epidemiological risk assessment and exploratory analyses of patterns and spread of causative agents of infectious diseases (virus, microorganisms, parasites etc.).