MyGeoHealth: GIS-based cholera transmission risk system in Sabah, Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysian Geographical or Geospatial Health (MyGeoHealth) is a term used to describe innovative method for monitoring environmental risk factors on human health. There are possible spatial relationship between environment and cholera outbreaks in Tawau, Sabah due to the recent outbreaks are hard to predict. Cholera is a diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae (Vc), which occurs naturally in coastal phytoplankton (Chl-a) related with sea surface temperature (SST), shellfish and man. This study adapts the MyGeoHealth by emphasizing the potential of geographical information system (GIS), satellite remote sensing (RS) and global positioning system (GPS) to develop an introduced cholera transmission risk system in Tawau, Sabah. Spatio-temporal pattern and effect of SST, Chl-a, and cholera cases were determined using integrated geospatial technologies (GIS, RS and GPS), statistics and epidemiological approaches. Although the results of the effect were only statistically minimum correlation, the disease could outbreak at anywhere and anytime particularly at high population, unhygienic environment, close to the contaminated water supply, and during the hot or the wet season. These spatial characteristics of outbreak could be used as a cholera transmission risk indicator and an efficient control plan in Sabah as required in the MyGeoHealth.