GIS for Global Health
Royal Tropical Institute (KIT)
Key Information
Campus location
Amsterdam, Netherlands
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
2 weeks
Pace
Full time
Tuition fees
EUR 2,270 / per course
Application deadline
01 May 2024
Earliest start date
17 Jun 2024
Introduction
The course ‘Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Global Health’ combines expertise in geographic information systems and its application in disease control.
The course gives an introduction to the use of GIS in disease control programmes and provides knowledge and basic skills on how GIS can be used for disease control, focusing on the epidemiological assessment of disease burden and the improvement of programmatic planning and management. Participants can choose from a range of practical case studies to tailor the course to their own needs.
Admissions
Curriculum
This course aims to provide health professionals with a solid understanding and hands-on practice allowing them to use GIS in their daily work. The increasing use of open source software solutions in professional settings provides a free, yet perfectly viable alternative to commercial software. This course uses Free and Open Source Software solutions to allow course participants to bring their skills into practice without depending on commercial packages.
The first week will focus on learning basic GIS theory and functions. Emphasis will be given to develop basic software operating skills and understanding of analytical approaches to analyze spatial data.
Specific topics further include:
- Basic GIS theory and principles including spatial data formats
- Introduction to QGIS 3.x software package
- Spatial data management
- Using online data repositories and data extraction from cloud databases (e.g. DHIS2)
- Data visualization and cartographic concepts
- Using geographic coordinate reference systems
- Introduction to essential geoprocessing functions
The second week of the course will provide the opportunity to apply and extend the GIS skills that have been learned in the first week into a public health context. The course will address specific problems in the field of planning and evaluating disease control programmes and space-time analyses of health data.
Topics include:
- Spatial analysis of geographic patterns of disease: point pattern analysis and geographic cluster analysis
- Geographic access analysis: quantifying health service coverage
- Spatial Multi Criteria Risk Analysis using the MATCH approach
- Digital (spatial) data-collection using ODK software system
In both weeks guest speakers are invited to present applications of the use of GIS in disease control programmes and research projects.