Presenter: Dr Sherif Amer, Assistant Professor of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) for Urban Planning and Management, University of Twente, The Netherlands
Date: 24 April 2018
Time: 12:30 – 13:30
Venues: Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town
Improving health and health care services and reducing health disparities, which are often gender related, remain at the forefront of government priorities throughout the world. Geo-Health aims to improve understanding of the relationships between people, their health and well-being, changing physical and social environments, and health care delivery systems. In recent years, academic institutions, government agencies and other stakeholder institutions increasingly use spatial data and geo-information tools to analyse access to primary health services, identify areas of poor program coverage, visualize geographic variations in health status and disease occurrence, and more generally monitor and map health trends. The pace of adoption of geospatial tools and techniques in the health domain is accelerating.
The application of geo-information tools to public health, epidemiology and health planning also comes with a variety of challenges related to data availability and access, limitations of GIS knowledge and skills, complexity and cost of GIS software, and problems of organizational embedding. In spite of these challenges Geo-Health has considerable potential. Effective use of high spatial and temporal resolution data, in combination with spatial modelling methods and forecasting can generate important strategic information for health institutions for optimal resource allocation, risk-based monitoring and the development of effective intervention strategies. Some of the main prospects and challenges described above will be addressed in this short seminar.
Pretoria: HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Contact : Arlene Grossberg, Tel: (012) 302 2811, e-mail: acgrossberg@hsrc.ac.za
Cape Town: HSRC, Merchant House 116-118 Buitengracht Street, Cape Town. Contact : Carmen Erasmus, Tel: (021) 466 7827, e-mail: CErasmus@hsrc.ac.za
Durban: The Atrium, 5th Floor, 430 Peter Mokaba Ridge, Berea, 4001. Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel: (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786, e-mail: RKhan@hsrc.ac.za
Port Elizabeth: CTLM Video-conference room, Top Floor, M-Block, North Campus, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth. Contact: Adlai Davids / Nomfanelo Plaatjie on 041 393 9500 / 041 393 9512
The HSRC seminar series is funded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST). The views and opinions expressed therein as well as findings and statements of the seminar series do not necessarily represent the views of the DST
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