GIS and Remote Sensing for Public Health and Epidemiology Training Course

This course equips participants with practical skills to combine GIS and remote sensing for public health and epidemiological analysis. It focuses on satellite-derived environmental data, spatial epidemiology, vector-borne and climate-sensitive disease modeling, exposure mapping, and health planning.

Target Groups

• Epidemiologists and public health researchers
• Health planners and program managers
• GIS and remote sensing analysts
• Climate and health specialists
• Monitoring and evaluation officers in health
• Postgraduate students and academics
• Managers and supervisors seeking to strengthen organizational practice in this field
• Consultants and professionals supporting related organizations

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain the role of spatial and remote sensing in epidemiology
• Source and process satellite and environmental data
• Derive vegetation, temperature, rainfall, and water indices
• Map disease burden and health outcomes
• Model environmental risk of vector-borne and climate-sensitive diseases
• Analyze exposure to environmental and air pollution
• Apply spatial statistics to health data
• Integrate demographic and health survey data in GIS
• Support health service planning with spatial evidence
• Communicate spatial findings effectively

Course Modules

Module 1: Spatial Epidemiology Foundations

• Concepts of place and health
• Spatial epidemiology applications
• Study designs and spatial data
• Ecological fallacy
• Software tools

Module 2: Remote Sensing Fundamentals

• Electromagnetic spectrum
• Satellite sensors and resolutions
• Open data sources
• Image preprocessing
• Cloud and atmospheric issues

Module 3: Environmental Indices for Health

• NDVI and vegetation indices
• Land surface temperature
• Rainfall products
• Water and moisture indices
• Time series extraction

Module 4: Mapping Disease Burden

• Health data preparation
• Rate calculation and mapping
• Small area estimation basics
• Survey data in GIS
• Visualization

Module 5: Vector-Borne and Climate-Sensitive Disease Mapping

• Malaria and dengue ecology
• Habitat suitability modeling
• Climate-disease relationships
• Early warning indicators
• Case studies

Module 6: Environmental Exposure Mapping

• Air quality and pollution data
• Water and sanitation exposure
• Land use and exposure
• Proximity analysis
• Exposure assessment

Module 7: Spatial Statistics for Health

• Spatial autocorrelation
• Cluster detection
• Spatial regression concepts
• Interpolation
• Model interpretation

Module 8: Population, Access, and Service Planning

• Gridded population data
• Health facility accessibility
• Coverage and equity analysis
• Target area identification
• Resource planning

Module 9: Communication and Decision Support

• Maps for policymakers
• Dashboards
• Storytelling with maps
• Data ethics
• Reproducible workflows

Module 10: Practical Exercises and Capstone Project

• Extracting environmental indices from satellite data
• Mapping disease burden for a case region
• Modeling environmental risk
• Analyzing health service access
• Presenting a spatial epidemiology brief