NJ Hospital Mortality Rates and other Health GIS News

The New Jersey Department of Health rated 72 major hospitals across the state according to the number of deaths per 100 patients for pneumonia, stroke, heart attack, and heart failure. That data was used to create the Google Map.

- NJ Spotlight

An independent study conducted by mapping analytics firm PetersonGIS shows that locations with the highest obesity rates contain the fewest farmers’ markets.

...Please note that correlation is not the same as causation.

The static, low resolution map makes local exploration challenging. 

- GIS Lounge

Health 2.0 announced today that it launched its first Health 2.0 Developers World Cup in which teams of developers, innovators, and entrepreneurs worldwide will compete in code-a-thons to build applications and tools that improve healthcare. The winners from each coding competition will face-off in San Francisco at the 6th Annual Fall Health 2.0 Conference for the Developers World Cup title. All finalists will receive free passes to the conference and a travel stipend. The winning team will receive a $10,000 cash prize, the opportunity to showcase their winning product on the main stage of the conference, and international visibility as world champions.

- details

Stewart County, TN's Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention is anxious to put in place a program already up and running in neighboring Houston County:

The point of the mapping system for a coalition is to plot hot spot locations on a map and supply them to anyone who asks for them as well as giving them to police officers and county commissioners.

Hot spot locations are ones that they police have been called out to anywhere in the county that may be an undesirable location for juveniles to be in.

The Stewart County data will come from a new 911 system. I wonder if this program will get the same backlash as the recent Microsoft patent aiming to keep people out of bad neigbhorhoods?

- The Leaf Chronicle

New Malaria Risk Maps and Data and other Health GIS News

In a study published in the Malaria Journal, a multinational team of researchers from the Malaria Atlas Project (MAP), funded mainly by the Wellcome Trust, present the results of a two-year effort to assemble all available data worldwide on the risk of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, the most deadly form of the disease. Using computer modelling and data on climate and human populations, they have revealed the complex landscape of malaria across the globe. The maps build on the first ever Atlas of Malaria-Eliminating Countries published earlier this year.

Malaria continues to exert an huge burden of illness and death worldwide but, after decades of neglect, the war against the disease has entered an unprecedented era: it is high on the policy agenda, international funding is beginning to translate into real increases in populations protected by bed nets and other key interventions, and a growing body of evidence points towards important reductions in illness and death.

The maps have been made freely available, along with a wide range of other malaria resources via the launch of a new online portal at www.map.ox.ac.uk. The research was led by Dr Pete Gething from the Department of Zoology at the University of Oxford. He says: "These new maps and our online portal are really aimed at everyone involved in the battle against the disease: from the major international organisations and funders, to other scientists, to those actually doing the disease control work on the ground."

- press release

PulsePoint, the mobile app that notifies those who are registered and CPR certified when help is needed is moving on from its home in San Ramon, CA to San Jose. 150 other agencies are interested. No word yet on if it's saved any lives yet.

- CIO

On Tuesday Massachusetts announced plans to shut down one of the state mental health hosptials in Taunton. The Massachussets Nurses Association quickly put out a press release calling it a travestry, in part, because of geography.

"Their plan makes no sense," Coughlin said. "Our system has been operating well over full capacity for years. We can't provide the care people need even with our facility open.  The other issue is geography.  We are now forcing patients and families to travel to Worcester, Tewksbury or out to Western Mass for their mental health care. It's a travesty."   

- press release

UAE Exploring Syndromic Surveillance and other Health GIS News

The Ministry of Health and the Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (Haad) confirmed plans to look into introducing "syndromic surveillance" into their current systems.

... Syndromic surveillance, which is still under review by the World Health Organisation, utilises internet search engines and social networking sites to provide a more in-depth report, said Dr Al Hosani. "Google's flu map [Google Flu Trend Tracker] is one of the methods of surveillance.

Google searches and Twitter posts are they resources being explored today. it's ineresting the UAE is looking to get out ahead of the WHO. The UAE already has doctors submit patient info on diseases such as flu to a central database. It's been up and running for two years.

- The National

Next, [after HealthMap] Brownstein wants to see what happens if everyone gets involved. To do it, HealthMap teamed up with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and in late October launched a giant public health experiment called Flu Near You, a new online mapping tool that lets people report their flu symptoms and then creates a living map of the results. The tool, data from which is accessible to anyone, generates real-time maps of reported flu activity by ZIP code. To drive participation in the endeavor, APHA is encouraging its members as well as public health practitioners nationwide to join APHA's Flu Near You Challenge and help recruit as many people as possible to take part in the massive surveillance and prevention effort.

- The Pump Handle Blog (coolest name ever for a  public health blog!!!)

A study in Belgium reveals that walkability only has an impact on adolesent activity (boy and girls) for low income neighborhoods. 

Neighborhood walkability was related to accelerometer-based physical activity only among adolescent boys and girls living in low-SES neighborhoods. 

- press release (BMC Public Health)

Shutting Down a School for Ten Days to Profile Local Slums and other Education GIS News

The plan at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Deonar for the nine days after November 26, is no classes. Intead more than 1,700 students, 150 professors and staff members along with the director of TISS will collect data for a socio-economic survey in the slum pockets of M (East) ward of the city. This effort is part of the school's 70th year celebration.

The team from TISS will profile more than 230 communities in the area and list the number of hospitals and educational institutes in the area using the Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.  “Our aim is to make a difference in the living conditions of the ward where the disparities are huge,” said Leena Joshi, project in-charge. A proposal for transformation of the ward has been discussed with chief minister, Prithviraj Chavan.

- Hindustan Times

In a project that is part competition and part research study, George Mason University professors Charles Twardy and Kathryn Laskey are assembling a team on the Internet of more than 500 forecasters who make educated guesses about a series of world events, on everything from disease outbreaks to agricultural trends to political patterns.

They are competing with four other teams led by professors at several universities. Each differs in its approach, but all are studying how crowdsourcing can be used.

At stake is grant money provided by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which heads up the nation's intelligence community.

- Fosters via GotGeoInt

NGA is using academics at Washington University to gather data on Peru.

Being led by Professors Stewart Bruce (GIS), Aaron Lampman (Anthropology) and Andrew Oros (Political Science and International Studies), this unprecedented program will involve using open source software to obtain information regarding demographics, water resources, health-related issues, energy and food resources so that future problems can be anticipated in both scope and location in Peru.

- GIS on the Chester Blog via GotGeoInt

Abu Dhabi's Education Council (ADEC) is looking to use GIS to better serve students and to teach them.

While ADEC is looking to introduce GIS in specific classroom and teaching functions, the applications it has developed play a more strategic role, said Aly. ADEC has developed a Master Plan application, to provide information around the ten year plan to redevelop Abu Dhabi's school infrastructure. The application, which is under ongoing development, provided information to parents and students on which schools were being shut down in the emirate, where new ones were opening, and how pupils would be allocated to new schools, as well as providing a planning function in plotting demand for new schools based on residential districts.

- ITP

Mapping Non-communicable Diseases in India and other Health GIS News

India Health Progress will map the prevalence and awareness of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer and diabetes in New Delhi. These diseases are responsible for more that 55% of deaths in Southeast Asia. The data collection will run over the next three months.

- ZeeNews

Researchers have mapped which parts of the UK whch are likely to see an increase in severe weather as a result of climate change, alongside projections for where England's ageing population will be living in the 2030s. The result: a match. That suggests the elderly are more likley to be hit by such events per a study led by Durham University and Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, published in the journal Applied Geography,

- Press Association

The Wasatch Front is known for having "bad air days" which cause lung irritation and sore throats. 

"For winter, we're kind of unique because of our inversions," said Bryce Bird, director of the Utah Division of Air Quality. "The emissions are always there, but when we have high pressure, it kind of puts a lid on the valley."

The valley's geography plays a key role in trapping polluted air.

Researchers at Utah State University may have a bit of a solution: they are exploring whether vitamin supplements can actually help people resist air pollution. Vitamin supplements containing high amounts of antioxidants may help people breathe a little easier during high pollution days.

The Utah-based nutritional supplement company has given USU a $147,000 research grant for the study.

- Deseret News