Development of a Web GIS for small-scale detection and analysis of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) cases based on volunteered geographic information for the city of Cologne, Germany, in July/August 2020

Design and Framework for Developing Disaster Health Information System (DHIS): A Systematic Review

Background

Health information systems are critically important in disaster management. It supports disaster management activities and the information needed for decision-making support. We aimed to evaluate comprehensively published literature on disaster health information systems designed to identify and extract the required framework and components.

Methods

A systematic review approach was used to systematically seek, screen, and synthesize data extracted from papers on using health information systems in disasters from the electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, and SAGE) with no limit up to Jan 2022 following the PRISMA declaration for reporting. The inclusion criteria consisted of full-text journal articles, publications in English, and studies focusing on disaster health information systems, critically evaluated articles using the Joanna Brigg Institute (JBI). Content analysis was used to analyze extracted data.

Results

Of 998 identified references, 18 articles were finally included and analyzed in this study and they are good quality according to appraisal results using JBI. Most reports described research of development or working prototypes and working framework; only two referred to early research or proposed design or framework. Of 18 articles; identified into 3 themes; 4 DHISs in pre-disaster, thirteen DHISs used during the disaster, and one DHIS in post-disaster were identified.

Conclusion

All the systems have a design or framework starting from strategies and plans, information flow, disaster management, and operation engagement, and involve all stakeholders, including the community. Its systems are supported by the latest technology and methods and the principles of integration and interoperability to obtain a DHIS that can assist decision-making processes.

LionVu: A Data-Driven Geographical Web-GIS Tool for Community Health and Decision-Making in a Catchment Area

In 2018, the Penn State Cancer Institute developed LionVu, a web mapping tool to educate and inform community health professionals about the cancer burden in Pennsylvania and its catchment area of 28 counties in central Pennsylvania. LionVu, redesigned in 2023, uses several open-source JavaScript libraries (i.e., Leaflet, jQuery, Chroma, Geostats, DataTables, and ApexChart) to allow public health researchers the ability to map, download, and chart 21 publicly available datasets for clinical, educational, and epidemiological audiences. County and census tract data used in choropleth maps were all downloaded from the sources website and linked to Pennsylvania and catchment area county and census tract geographies, using a QGIS plugin and Leaflet JavaScript. Two LionVu demonstrations are presented, and 10 other public health related web-GIS applications are reviewed. LionVu fills a role in the public health community by allowing clinical, educational, and epidemiological audiences the ability to visualize and utilize health data at various levels of aggregation and geographical scales (i.e., county, or census tracts). Also, LionVu is a novel application that can translate and can be used, for mapping and graphing purposes. A dialog to demonstrate the potential value of web-based GIS to a wider audience, in the public health research community, is needed.