Application of Geographical Information System in Animal Disease Surveillance and Control: A Review

Abstract

Animal disease patterns are changing because of climate change and there is a continuous occurrence of re-emerging and emerging types of diseases. So, new and modern tools are essential for monitoring and surveillance of these diseases. This review was done to give an insight on the applications of GIS in animal disease surveillance, reporting and control. Geographic information systems (GIS) provide the easy access, utilization and manipulation of geospatial information. The advantage of GIS is mapping the many different locations of farms and other facilities with animals on a single map which helps in better monitoring and surveillance. GIS also provides detailed information on disease forecasting, prediction of outbreaks, identification of disease clusters or hotspot, creation of buffer zones and to evaluate different strategies to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Moreover, it provides an ideal condition for the collection of disease related data and their analyses in relation to population distribution, surrounding social and health services and the natural environmental conditions.

Keywords: Animal diseases; Control; GIS; Surveillance