Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/29869
G IS technology is offering important new help in public-health data collection and analysis, and North Carolina is at the forefront of developing GIS in the service of public health. In particular, the state benefits from the Spatial Health Assessment and Research Program (SHARP), a part of the University of North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness (UNC CPHP). SHARP assists public-health service agencies with data collection and spatial analysis projects by pro- viding GIS technical assistance and consultation, training and survey support related to emergency preparedness or other communitywide or regional public-health concerns. Evidence-Based Medicine Public-health studies examine patterns of health and illness and associated factors at the population level. They’re a cornerstone of public-health research and help inform evidence-based medicine for identifying risk factors for disease. Household surveys of public health using GIS technologies are carried out for a wide variety of reasons, including estimating the burden of dis- ease as well as recording attitudes toward health care, use of health services and coverage of inter- ventions. These surveys often are conducted in cluster-sampling studies by teams. Cluster sampling enables cost-effective surveys in a geographically dispersed population by sampling a relatively few number of households to get a represen- tative idea of what the needs are in an area. It’s used when telephone interviews may be insufficient for a variety of reasons. For example, some 20 percent of people in the United States have replaced land lines with cell phones, and people aged 18 to 25 years are among those most likely to be missed by a traditional phone survey. In addition, face-to-face interviews generate better rapport between interviewer and respondents, which can yield more accurate results and increase the survey response rate. In North Carolina, cluster-sampling interview teams assisted by Team Epi-Aid, an award-winning volunteer group at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health, have begun conducting sam- pling using Ashtech handheld MobileMapper 6 GPS/ GIS devices to navigate to designated survey sites Mobility/GPS Special Issue and collect point-specific field data. The survey methodology used to conduct community assess- ments has been developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention into a surveillance toolkit: Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response. This random cluster-sampling method was inte- grated into a survey site-selection toolkit by the North Carolina Division of Public Health’s Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, and North Carolina Public Health Regional Surveillance Team (PHRST) 5. This toolkit generates a toolbar that runs lSurvey locations were mapped in relation to flood damage in Georgia’s Cobb and Douglas counties. A P R I L 2 O 1 1 / W W W . G E O P L A C E . C O M 19