Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations

Abstract Cholera, an acute waterborne diarrheal disease, remains a major global health challenge. Despite being curable and preventable, it can be fatal if left untreated, especially for children. Bangladesh, a cholera‐endemic country with a high disease burden, experiences two peaks annually, durin...

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Main Authors: Farah Nusrat, Ali S. Akanda, Abdullah Islam, Sonia Aziz, Emily L. Pakhtigian, Kevin Boyle, Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2024-11-01
Series:GeoHealth
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GH001039
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author Farah Nusrat
Ali S. Akanda
Abdullah Islam
Sonia Aziz
Emily L. Pakhtigian
Kevin Boyle
Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi
author_facet Farah Nusrat
Ali S. Akanda
Abdullah Islam
Sonia Aziz
Emily L. Pakhtigian
Kevin Boyle
Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi
author_sort Farah Nusrat
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Cholera, an acute waterborne diarrheal disease, remains a major global health challenge. Despite being curable and preventable, it can be fatal if left untreated, especially for children. Bangladesh, a cholera‐endemic country with a high disease burden, experiences two peaks annually, during the dry pre‐monsoon spring and the wet post‐monsoon fall seasons. An early warning system for disseminating cholera risk, which has potential to reduce the disease burden, currently does not exist in Bangladesh. Such systems can raise timely awareness and allow households in rural, riverine areas like Matlab to make behavioral adjustments with water usage and around water resources to reduce contracting and transmitting cholera. Current dissemination approaches typically target local government and public health organizations; however, the vulnerable rural populations largely remain outside the information chain. Here, we develop and evaluate the accuracy of an early warning system—CholeraMap that uses high‐resolution earth observations to forecast cholera risk and disseminate geocoded risk maps directly to Matlab's population via a mobile smartphone application. Instead of relying on difficult to obtain station‐based environmental and hydroclimatological data, this study offers a new opportunity to use remote sensing data sets for designing and operating a disease early warning system. CholeraMap delivers monthly, color‐coded geospatial maps (1 km × 1 km spatial resolution) with household and community cholera risk information. Our results demonstrate that the satellite‐derived local‐scale risk model satisfactorily captured the seasonal cholera pattern for the Matlab region, and a detailed high‐resolution picture of the spatial progression of at‐risk areas during outbreak months.
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publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher American Geophysical Union (AGU)
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spelling doaj-art-c7520ee7f47c4dedb8082f89b2082a932024-11-27T03:42:28ZengAmerican Geophysical Union (AGU)GeoHealth2471-14032024-11-01811n/an/a10.1029/2024GH001039Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable PopulationsFarah Nusrat0Ali S. Akanda1Abdullah Islam2Sonia Aziz3Emily L. Pakhtigian4Kevin Boyle5Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi6Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center Utah State University Logan UT USADepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering University of Rhode Island Kingston RI USADepartment of Computer Science and Statistics University of Rhode Island Kingston RI USASchool of Business and Economics Moravian University Bethlehem PA USASchool of Public Policy Pennsylvania State University State College PA USAPamplin College of Business Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Blacksburg VA USAInternational Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research Dhaka BangladeshAbstract Cholera, an acute waterborne diarrheal disease, remains a major global health challenge. Despite being curable and preventable, it can be fatal if left untreated, especially for children. Bangladesh, a cholera‐endemic country with a high disease burden, experiences two peaks annually, during the dry pre‐monsoon spring and the wet post‐monsoon fall seasons. An early warning system for disseminating cholera risk, which has potential to reduce the disease burden, currently does not exist in Bangladesh. Such systems can raise timely awareness and allow households in rural, riverine areas like Matlab to make behavioral adjustments with water usage and around water resources to reduce contracting and transmitting cholera. Current dissemination approaches typically target local government and public health organizations; however, the vulnerable rural populations largely remain outside the information chain. Here, we develop and evaluate the accuracy of an early warning system—CholeraMap that uses high‐resolution earth observations to forecast cholera risk and disseminate geocoded risk maps directly to Matlab's population via a mobile smartphone application. Instead of relying on difficult to obtain station‐based environmental and hydroclimatological data, this study offers a new opportunity to use remote sensing data sets for designing and operating a disease early warning system. CholeraMap delivers monthly, color‐coded geospatial maps (1 km × 1 km spatial resolution) with household and community cholera risk information. Our results demonstrate that the satellite‐derived local‐scale risk model satisfactorily captured the seasonal cholera pattern for the Matlab region, and a detailed high‐resolution picture of the spatial progression of at‐risk areas during outbreak months.https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GH001039smartphonegeospatialcholera forecastEarth observationsearly warning system
spellingShingle Farah Nusrat
Ali S. Akanda
Abdullah Islam
Sonia Aziz
Emily L. Pakhtigian
Kevin Boyle
Syed Manzoor Ahmed Hanifi
Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
GeoHealth
smartphone
geospatial
cholera forecast
Earth observations
early warning system
title Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
title_full Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
title_fullStr Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
title_full_unstemmed Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
title_short Satellite‐Derived, Smartphone‐Delivered Geospatial Cholera Risk Information for Vulnerable Populations
title_sort satellite derived smartphone delivered geospatial cholera risk information for vulnerable populations
topic smartphone
geospatial
cholera forecast
Earth observations
early warning system
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GH001039
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