Authors: Jacob Oluwoye.
Introduction: The spread of infectious disease in Africa is a major issue that demands the use for the most effective technology for its control and prevention. Geographical Information System (GIS) is an emerging technology with proven capacity to chart the spatial occurrence social phenomena, both statically and dynamically. GIS offers considerable advantages over the traditional cartographic methods from which it emerged. The purpose of this research paper is to explore and demonstrate the capability of GIS in measuring the spread and predicting infectious disease in developing countries and assisting (government) decision-makers in understanding and controlling the spread of communicable disease. Specifically, the aim is to establish an integrated framework for using GIS in epidemiological studies at the grassroots level.
Methods: The paper based on the author previous published papers and review of the existing literature.
Result: The data collection will center on the virus that has reached Lagos along the coast road from Accra in Ghana; Calabar from infected Cameroon to the east and arrived in the north via a "right hook" of long-distance trucking to Maiduguri. Thus, there is a need for the establishment of GPS base station in Lagos, Nigeria to improve accuracy and precision of satellite data collection through use of differential corrections. There is also a need to link clinical and HIV/AIDS databases to GPS database. The information required to support HIV/AIDS spread analysis can be generally classified into the following three categories :(a) transportation network (i.e. distance; average daily traffic; number of stops; etc.) (b) social/demographic factors (i.e. population; characteristics of HIV carriers/AIDS sufferers; the distance to school, hospitals, and other sensitive areas) (c) other geographical considerations (i.e. tribal affiliation; neighboring country.). The principal social/demographic factor that is operational in the referenced HIV/AIDS spread model is population. This is a GIS database of enumeration district centroids with attribute information, available through the National Population Centre and African AIDS Network. The enumeration district boundary file for each district will be established by drawing lines that bisect each adjacent enumeration district centroid. Through recursive use of this process, enumeration district borders will be shaped such that every district occupies a unique area surrounding its centroid, and collectively the district occupies the entire suburb area.
Conclusions: The paper concludes that direct the nature and the geographical focus of control efforts carried out at the state or local government level, where these decisions are constrained by the limited resources for control programs, which are always a reality in developing countries. This integrated GIS is significance because it will provide an important opportunity for improved decision support for the educational interventions, health care delivery systems and management of infectious disease spread at the local, regional and national levels.
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