Geoinformatics : A Future Tool for Disease Alerts and Forecasting

Science knows surprisingly little about Zoonosis, the emergence of human disease from other animals. It knows little about the reservoir of diseases in animals or how those diseases move among species. Epidemiologists are adopting new techniques related to Geographical information system to study a variety of animal and zoonotic diseases. Associations between satellite-derived environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, land cover type and vector density is used for disease prediction.The convergence of factors such as the availability of multi-temporal satellite data and georeferenced epidemiological data, collaboration between scientists, biologists and the availability of sophisticated, statistical geographic information system creates a fertile research environment. It is imperative for any technology to create more employment opportunities and make collective efforts to percolate the benefits to the rural areas, especially in a developing country like India.This work of forecasting emerging disease threats remains a rather novel undertaking.