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Piel FB, Parkes B, Hambly P, Roca-Barceló A, McCallion M, Leonardi G, Strosnider H, Yip F, Elliott P, Hansell AL. Software application profile: the Rapid Inquiry Facility 4.0: an open access tool for environmental public health tracking. Int J Epidemiol 2021; 49 Suppl 1:i38-i48. [PMID: 32293011 PMCID: PMC7158065 DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyz094] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 04/11/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
The Rapid Inquiry Facility 4.0 (RIF) is a new user-friendly and open-access tool, developed by the UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), to facilitate environment public health tracking (EPHT) or surveillance (EPHS). The RIF is designed to help public health professionals and academics to rapidly perform exploratory investigations of health and environmental data at the small-area level (e.g. postcode or detailed census areas) in order to identify unusual signals, such as disease clusters and potential environmental hazards, whether localized (e.g. industrial site) or widespread (e.g. air and noise pollution). The RIF allows the use of advanced disease mapping methods, including Bayesian small-area smoothing and complex risk analysis functionalities, while accounting for confounders. The RIF could be particularly useful to monitor spatio-temporal trends in mortality and morbidity associated with cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases, or to conduct local or national studies on air pollution, flooding, low-magnetic fields or nuclear power plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric B Piel
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.,MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Brandon Parkes
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Peter Hambly
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Aina Roca-Barceló
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Martin McCallion
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Giovanni Leonardi
- Environmental Epidemiology Group, Centre for Radiation, Chemical and Environmental Hazards, Public Health England, Chilton, UK
| | - Heather Strosnider
- Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, US
| | - Fuyuen Yip
- Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, National Center for Environmental Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, US
| | - Paul Elliott
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.,MRC-PHE Centre for Environment & Health, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Anna L Hansell
- UK Small Area Health Statistics Unit (SAHSU), Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK.,Centre for Environmental Health and Sustainability, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
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Advancing Global Health through Environmental and Public Health Tracking. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2020; 17:ijerph17061976. [PMID: 32192215 PMCID: PMC7142667 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17061976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2020] [Revised: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 03/10/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
Global environmental change has degraded ecosystems. Challenges such as climate change, resource depletion (with its huge implications for human health and wellbeing), and persistent social inequalities in health have been identified as global public health issues with implications for both communicable and noncommunicable diseases. This contributes to pressure on healthcare systems, as well as societal systems that affect health. A novel strategy to tackle these multiple, interacting and interdependent drivers of change is required to protect the population’s health. Public health professionals have found that building strong, enduring interdisciplinary partnerships across disciplines can address environment and health complexities, and that developing Environmental and Public Health Tracking (EPHT) systems has been an effective tool. EPHT aims to merge, integrate, analyse and interpret environmental hazards, exposure and health data. In this article, we explain that public health decision-makers can use EPHT insights to drive public health actions, reduce exposure and prevent the occurrence of disease more precisely in efficient and cost-effective ways. An international network exists for practitioners and researchers to monitor and use environmental health intelligence, and to support countries and local areas toward sustainable and healthy development. A global network of EPHT programs and professionals has the potential to advance global health by implementing and sharing experience, to magnify the impact of local efforts and to pursue data knowledge improvement strategies, aiming to recognise and support best practices. EPHT can help increase the understanding of environmental public health and global health, improve comparability of risks between different areas of the world including Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), enable transparency and trust among citizens, institutions and the private sector, and inform preventive decision making consistent with sustainable and healthy development. This shows how EPHT advances global health efforts by sharing recent global EPHT activities and resources with those working in this field. Experiences from the US, Europe, Asia and Australasia are outlined for operating successful tracking systems to advance global health.
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