Editorial

2 pages, 218 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions

by Andrew Curtis and Jacqueline Curtis

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(8), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081457 - 24 Apr 2019

Viewed by 2443

During an opening panel of the 2018 International Health Congress in Oxford, a question was raised as to how protection could be offered to young researchers in particular who explore new ideas [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

Research

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17 pages, 328 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations between Obesity, Obesogenic Environments, and Structural Racism Vary by County-Level Racial Composition

by Caryn N. Bell, Jordan Kerr and Jessica L. Young

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(5), 861; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050861 - 09 Mar 2019

Cited by 67 | Viewed by 8735

Abstract

Obesity rates in the U.S. are associated with area-level, food-related characteristics. Studies have previously examined the role of structural racism (policies/practices that advantaged White Americans and deprived other racial/ethnic minority groups), but racial inequalities in socioeconomic status (SES) is a novel indicator. The [...] Read more.

Obesity rates in the U.S. are associated with area-level, food-related characteristics. Studies have previously examined the role of structural racism (policies/practices that advantaged White Americans and deprived other racial/ethnic minority groups), but racial inequalities in socioeconomic status (SES) is a novel indicator. The aim of this study is to determine the associations between racial inequalities in SES with obesity and obesogenic environments. Data from 2007–2014 County Health Rankings and 2012–2016 County Business Patterns were combined to assess the associations between relative SES comparing Blacks to Whites with obesity, and number of grocery stores and fast food restaurants in U.S. counties. Random effects linear and Poisson regressions were used and stratified by county racial composition. Racial inequality in poverty, unemployment, and homeownership were associated with higher obesity rates. Racial inequality in median income, college graduates, and unemployment were associated with fewer grocery stores and more fast food restaurants. Associations varied by county racial composition. The results demonstrate that a novel indicator of structural racism on the county-level is associated with obesity and obesogenic environments. Associations vary by SES measure and county racial composition, suggesting the ability for targeted interventions to improve obesogenic environments and policies to eliminate racial inequalities in SES. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

6 pages, 268 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing the Geographic Context of Risk Perception and Behavioral Response to Potential Ebola Exposure

by Eric Shook, Andrew Curtis, Jacqueline Curtis, Gregory Gibson, Anthony Vander Horst, Virginia Little and Christopher Woolverton

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(5), 831; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050831 - 07 Mar 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2839

Abstract

The 2014–2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic outbreak reached over 28,000 cases and totaled over 11,000 deaths with 4 confirmed cases in the United States, which sparked widespread public concern about nationwide spread of EVD. Concern was elevated in locations connected to the [...] Read more.

The 2014–2016 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic outbreak reached over 28,000 cases and totaled over 11,000 deaths with 4 confirmed cases in the United States, which sparked widespread public concern about nationwide spread of EVD. Concern was elevated in locations connected to the infected people, which included Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. This threat of exposure enabled a unique opportunity to assess self-reported knowledge about EVD, risk perception, and behavior response to EVD. Unlike existing studies, which often survey one point in time across geographically coarse scales, this work offers insights into the geographic context of risk perception and behavior at finer-grained spatial and temporal scales. We report results from 3138 respondents comprised of faculty, staff, and students at two time periods. Results reveal increased EVD knowledge, decreased risk perception, and reduction in protective actions during this time. Faculty had the lowest perceived risk, followed by staff and then students, suggesting the role of education in this outcome. However, the most impactful result is the proof-of-concept for this study design to be deployed in the midst of a disease outbreak. Such geographically targeted and temporally dynamic surveys distributed during an outbreak can show where and when risk perception and behaviors change, which can provide policy-makers with rapid results that can shape intervention practices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

18 pages, 3325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Micro-Space Complexity and Context in the Space-Time Variation in Enteric Disease Risk for Three Informal Settlements of Port au Prince, Haiti

by Andrew Curtis, Robert Squires, Vanessa Rouzier, Jean William Pape, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar, Sandra Bempah, Meer Taifur Alam, Md. Mahbubul Alam, Mohammed H. Rashid, Afsar Ali and John Glenn Morris, Jr

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(5), 807; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050807 - 05 Mar 2019

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2830

Abstract

Diffusion of cholera and other diarrheal diseases in an informal settlement is a product of multiple behavioral, environmental and spatial risk factors. One of the most important components is the spatial interconnections among water points, drainage ditches, toilets and the intervening environment. This [...] Read more.

Diffusion of cholera and other diarrheal diseases in an informal settlement is a product of multiple behavioral, environmental and spatial risk factors. One of the most important components is the spatial interconnections among water points, drainage ditches, toilets and the intervening environment. This risk is also longitudinal and variable as water points fluctuate in relation to bacterial contamination. In this paper we consider part of this micro space complexity for three informal settlements in Port au Prince, Haiti. We expand on more typical epidemiological analysis of fecal coliforms at water points, drainage ditches and ocean sites by considering the importance of single point location fluctuation coupled with recording micro-space environmental conditions around each sample site. Results show that spatial variation in enteric disease risk occurs within neighborhoods, and that while certain trends are evident, the degree of individual site fluctuation should question the utility of both cross-sectional and more aggregate analysis. Various factors increase the counts of fecal coliform present, including the type of water point, how water was stored at that water point, and the proximity of the water point to local drainage. Some locations fluctuated considerably between being safe and unsafe on a monthly basis. Next steps to form a more comprehensive contextualized understanding of enteric disease risk in these environments should include the addition of behavioral factors and local insight. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

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15 pages, 5320 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

The Use of Geonarratives to Add Context to Fine Scale Geospatial Research

by Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar, Andrew Curtis, Steve Smith and Jacqueline Curtis

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(3), 515; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16030515 - 12 Feb 2019

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3946

Abstract

There has been a move towards using mixed method approaches in geospatial research to gain context in understanding health related social patterns and processes. The central premise is that official data is often too reductionist and misses’ nuances that can help explain causality. [...] Read more.

There has been a move towards using mixed method approaches in geospatial research to gain context in understanding health related social patterns and processes. The central premise is that official data is often too reductionist and misses’ nuances that can help explain causality. One example is the geonarrative, a spatially relevant commentary or interview that can be mapped by content and/or location. While there have been several examples of geonarratives being used by researchers, there is no commonly available software that can easily transfer the associated text into spatial data. Having a standardized software platform is vital if these methods are to be used across different disciplines. This paper presents an overview of a solution, Wordmapper (WM), which is a standalone software developed to process geonarratives from a transcription and associated global positioning system (GPS) path. Apart from querying textual narrative data, Wordmapper facilitates qualitative coding which could be used to extract latent contextual information from the narratives. In order to improve interoperability, Wordmapper provides spatialized narrative data in formats, such as ESRI shape files, Keyhole Markup Language (KML), and Comma Separated Values (CSV). A case study based on five different spatial video geonarratives (SVG) collected to assess the human impacts following the 2011 Joplin, Missouri are used for illustration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

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13 pages, 7327 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Video Health Risk Mapping in Informal Settlements: Correcting GPS Error

by Andrew Curtis, Sandra Bempah, Jayakrishnan Ajayakumar, Dania Mofleh and Lorriane Odhiambo

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(1), 33; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16010033 - 24 Dec 2018

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3804

Abstract

Informal settlements pose a continuing health concern. While spatial methodologies have proven to be valuable tools to support health interventions, several factors limit their widespread use in these challenging environments. One such technology, spatial video, has been used for fine-scale contextualized mapping. In [...] Read more.

Informal settlements pose a continuing health concern. While spatial methodologies have proven to be valuable tools to support health interventions, several factors limit their widespread use in these challenging environments. One such technology, spatial video, has been used for fine-scale contextualized mapping. In this paper, we address one of the limitations of the technique: the global positioning system (GPS) coordinate error. More specifically, we show how spatial video coordinate streams can be corrected and synced back to the original video to facilitate risk mapping. Past spatial video collections for the Mathare informal settlement of Kenya are used as an illustration as these data had been previously discarded because of excessive GPS error. This paper will describe the bespoke software that makes these corrections possible, and then will go on to investigate patterns in the coordinate error. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

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20 pages, 5299 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Neighborhood Violence Impacts Disease Control and Surveillance: Case Study of Cali, Colombia from 2014 to 2016

by Amy R. Krystosik, Andrew Curtis, A. Desiree LaBeaud, Diana M. Dávalos, Robinson Pacheco, Paola Buritica, Álvaro A. Álvarez, Madhav P. Bhatta, Jorge Humberto Rojas Palacios and Mark A. James

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2018, 15(10), 2144; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15102144 - 29 Sep 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5543

Abstract

Arboviruses are responsible for a large burden of disease globally and are thus subject to intense epidemiological scrutiny. However, a variable notably absent from most epidemiological analyses has been the impact of violence on arboviral transmission and surveillance. Violence impedes surveillance and delivery [...] Read more.

Arboviruses are responsible for a large burden of disease globally and are thus subject to intense epidemiological scrutiny. However, a variable notably absent from most epidemiological analyses has been the impact of violence on arboviral transmission and surveillance. Violence impedes surveillance and delivery of health and preventative services and affects an individual’s health-related behaviors when survival takes priority. Moreover, low and middle-income countries bear a disproportionately high burden of violence and related health outcomes, including vector borne diseases. To better understand the epidemiology of arboviral outbreaks in Cali, Colombia, we georeferenced chikungunya (CHIKV), dengue (DENV), and Zika (ZIKV) viral cases from The National System of Surveillance in Public Health between October 2014 and April 2016. We extracted homicide data from the municipal monthly reports and kernel density of homicide distribution from IdeasPaz. Crucially, an overall higher risk of homicide is associated with increased risk of reported DENV, lower rates of acute testing, and higher rates of lab versus clinical discordance. In the context of high violence as a potential barrier to access to preventive health services, a community approach to improve health and peace should be considered. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

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Other

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14 pages, 1414 KiB

Open AccessPerspective

Modeling R₀ for Pathogens with Environmental Transmission: Animal Movements, Pathogen Populations, and Local Infectious Zones

by Jason K. Blackburn, Holly H. Ganz, José Miguel Ponciano, Wendy C. Turner, Sadie J. Ryan, Pauline Kamath, Carrie Cizauskas, Kyrre Kausrud, Robert D. Holt, Nils Chr. Stenseth and Wayne M. Getz

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(6), 954; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16060954 - 17 Mar 2019

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7395

Abstract

How a disease is transmitted affects our ability to determine R₀, the average number of new cases caused by an infectious host at the onset of an epidemic. R₀ becomes progressively more difficult to compute as transmission varies from directly [...] Read more.

How a disease is transmitted affects our ability to determine R₀, the average number of new cases caused by an infectious host at the onset of an epidemic. R₀ becomes progressively more difficult to compute as transmission varies from directly transmitted diseases to diseases that are vector-borne to environmentally transmitted diseases. Pathogens responsible for diseases with environmental transmission are typically maintained in environmental reservoirs that exhibit a complex spatial distribution of local infectious zones (LIZs). Understanding host encounters with LIZs and pathogen persistence within LIZs is required for an accurate R₀ and modeling these contacts requires an integrated geospatial and dynamical systems approach. Here we review how interactions between host and pathogen populations and environmental reservoirs are driven by landscape-level variables, and synthesize the quantitative framework needed to formulate outbreak response and disease control. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Next Frontier in Health Geography: Context and Implications for Interventions)

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