Schistosomiasis control in China: GIS training
TDR news 1999(58): 10
1999
ISSN/ISBN: 1028-5911 PMID: 12322121 Document Number: 281982
A training course on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) recently held at Jiangsu Institute of Parasitic Diseases (JIPD), Wuxi, Jiangsu Province was attended by 22 participants from schistosomiasis control programs and research institutes in schistosomiasis-endemic areas of China. Participants were introduced to the principles of GISs and learned how to create, edit, and digitize maps, set up databases with demographic or research data which could be linked to the maps; associate those databases with digitized maps; and then produce customized maps showing data or conduct spatial analyses. Case studies were used to give the participants some real public health applications. In addition to other activities during the 2-week course, the students produced maps of schistosomiasis incidence for their own provinces, related them to satellite images, and were guided through the creation of a GIS for Jiangsu Province based upon results collected during a UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR)-funded project. A network on the use of GISs for schistosomiasis control in China was established to link participants.