The Burden of Visceral Leishmaniasis in India: Challenges in Using Remote Sensing and GIS to Understand and Control

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) continues to constitute immense public health problems and be an obstacle to socioeconomic development in India. The scrutiny of this disease remains a necessary step in its control, eradication, and prevention. Space technologies proffer new opportunities for rapid appraisal of endemic areas, stipulation of trustworthy estimation of populations at risk, prediction of disease distributions in areas that lack baseline data and are difficult to access, and guiding intervention strategies. Here, we focus on the epidemiology and control of VL in India and review remote sensing (RS) and GIS applications to date. For the original evidenced report, a search was done on electronic databases of PubMed, ERMSS, EQUEST and from online Internet searching to come across the recent research problems. We discuss the previous work conducted in this field, outlined potential new applications of GIS and RS techniques, and utilization of emerging satellite information, as they hold a promising area to further enhance VL risk mapping and prediction. Finally, we concluded with a discussion of strategies to overcome some of the perspective challenges of GIS and RS applications for VL control, so that supplementary and continued progress can be made to control this disease in India and elsewhere.