Public health monitoring using Geographic Information Systems: case viral hepatitis E

Abstract

Among the major parasitic diseases having major health and socio-economic impacts in the world and in Morocco, are viral hepatitis. These are acute inflammations of the liver caused by a virus. The 3 most frequently encountered viruses are viruses A, B, C. The objective of this study is to map health events, in our case the incidence of viral hepatitis E in the different prefectures of the region of Meknes-Fez by creating a database containing geographic and health parameters in geographic information system (GIS). This database was then used to create the risk map which identifies the high-risk prefectures. This study shows that the average incidence of viral hepatitis H is higher in the prefecture of Meknes during all the years of the study, with a high risk compared to other prefectures and provinces which have an average risk. Indeed, the mapping of health events is a descriptive tool implemented to evaluate the spatial disparities of incidence, which allowed us to perform a spatio-temporal analysis of the epidemic. Spatial technologies, such as geographic information systems (GIS), offer a new option for disease prevention, predicting risk locations based on factors favoring the emergence or re-emergence of the epidemic.