期刊名称:The Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition
印刷版ISSN:1606-0997
电子版ISSN:2072-1315
出版年度:2007
卷号:25
期号:4
页码:436-447
语种:English
出版社:International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Bangladesh
摘要:In the last decade, geographic information systems (GIS) have become accessible to researchers in developing countries, yet guidance remains sparse for developing a GIS. Drawing on experience in developing a GIS for a large community trial in rural Bangladesh, six stages for constructing, maintaining, and using a GIS for health research purposes were outlined. The system contains 0.25 million landmarks, including 150,000 houses, in an area of 435 sq km with over 650,000 people. Assuming access to reasonably accurate paper boundary maps of the intended working area and the absence of pre-existing digital local-area maps, the six stages are: to (a) digitize and update existing paper maps, (b) join the digitized maps into a large-area map, (c) reference this large-area map to a geographic coordinate system, (d) insert location landmarks of interest, (e) maintain the GIS, and (f) link it to other research databases. These basic steps can produce a household-level, updated, scaleable GIS that can both enhance field efficiency and support epidemiologic analyses of demographic patterns, diseases, and health outcomes. Key words: Geographic information systems, International health, Nutrition, Medical informatics, Community health research, Community mapping, Bangladesh