Purpose
The use of Earth observation (EO) data among interdisciplinary and multi-agency teams can significantly advance scientific knowledge of existing public health threats to human, animal, and ecosystem health. The analysis of these geospatial data can enhance our understanding of the dynamic processes of the surrounding ecosystem and influence on human health. These data can also support disease preparedness and response actions in disease epidemic or humanitarian efforts.
Mission
To foster the development of integrated information systems (IIS) that improve the capacity to predict, respond to, and reduce environment-related health risks.
Goal
To support the systematic collection, analysis, and application of relevant information about areas of impending risk that inform the development of strategic responses to anticipate risks and opportunities and their evolution and communicate options to critical actors for the purposes of decision-making and response.
Objectives
Engage with end-user communities to better understand and identify their needs and requirements.
Develop and implement activities that address the needs and requirements of end-user communities.
Improve the use of, and clarify future needs for, EO for health.
Examine effectiveness and provide feedback on future EO actions for health.
Participate with other individuals or Group on Earth Observations (GEO) communities of practice or institutions to produce an outcome greater than that achievable otherwise.
Planned Activities
The EO4HEALTH Activity aims to build on previous GEO and GEO Health CoP efforts and knowledge, add new foci, activities and partners, and to the extent possible develop an integrated information system (IIS) on these new topics or themes. An IIS is a construct that institutionalizes components that 1) engage and define demand; 2) identify and develop EO data and other relevant health surveillance and information; 3) develop useful information for assessment, prediction, and prevention of health risks and health promotion; 4) use, communicate, and assess the information; and 5) evaluate effectiveness and provide feedback on science, observation, and action gaps. It aims to build on existing activities, projects, and funding, providing a construct that facilitates greater coordination, knowledge sharing, and engagement of science and health decision-making communities. The One Health framework, which promotes transdisciplinary collaborations to better understand the interlinking processes of human, animal, and environmental health, will be integrated throughout all activities.
Activities will include diverse applications, such as feasibility studies (e.g., testing and validation of proofs-of-concept of possible applications); development of data-fusion products with strong applications and applied research potential; demonstrations that complete the transition, adoption, and sustained use of EO; capacity building; and studies on value of EO for decision making, preparedness, response, or resilience.
These activities will support GEO efforts and the GEO Work Programme activities. These efforts include:
GEO Health CoP: The GEO Health CoP has initially focused on health early warning systems for air quality (e.g., AirNOW International, Persistent Organic Pollutants), heat, infectious disease (e.g., dengue, leptospirosis, malaria, meningitis), water related illness (e.g., cholera), and ecosystem-related health impacts (e.g., harmful algal blooms). Seven working groups have formed which aim to seek and engage health partners, clarify and address health needs for capacity building, and identify and address EO and prediction gaps and needs. These multidisciplinary scientific areas lend themselves to cross-collaborations and synergies among various GEO groups, including EO4HEALTH.
GEO AquaWatch: GEO AquaWatch has supported GEO Health CoP efforts through information sharing and access to water quality information (e.g., nutrients, chlorophyll a, plastic pollution) as well as offering scientific and technical expertise to provide recommendations on draft procedure and policy documents on related topics. Potential GEO EO4HEALTH collaboration synergies include mutual capacity building efforts and advocacy to effect policy changes within overlapping stakeholder groups and working group participants.
GEO Blue Planet: The GEO Health CoP is a partner of GEO Blue Planet’s working group on water-associated diseases. GEO Blue Planet seeks to expand collaborations with the GEO Health CoP and EO4HEALTH over the 2023-2025 Work Programme period, including those related to pollution and coastal hazards.
Project Initiatives
Dengue MOdel forecasting Satellite-based System (D-MOSS). Developed by a consortium led by HR Wallingford and sponsored by the United Kingdom (UK) Space Agency’s International Partnership Programme, D-MOSS is the first fully integrated dengue fever forecasting system incorporating Earth observations and seasonal climate forecasts to issue warnings on a routine basis. D-MOSS integrates multiple stressors such as water availability, land-cover, precipitation, and temperature with data on past dengue fever incidents. This information is used to develop statistical models of disease incidence, which can then be used to forecast dengue outbreaks based on seasonal weather and hydrological forecasts as well as other factors. D-MOSS takes the form of a web-based platform. The system’s architecture is based on open and non-proprietary software, where possible, and on flexible deployment into platforms including cloud-based virtual storage and application processing. D-MOSS has been recently implemented in Vietnam and is being expanded to Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand. This suite of innovative tools will allow beneficiaries to issue alerts for dengue fever up to eight months in advance (with a view to develop the same for Zika virus) and provide assessments of vector-borne disease risk under future climate and land use change scenarios. It will allow local communities to mobilize and eliminate mosquito-breeding sites, thus reducing dengue incidence. To learn more about D-MOSS, please review the brochure and fact sheet.
Currently Funded Projects
As part of the GEO Work Programme, four new EO4HEALTH projects were announced at the “New US Projects Supporting the GEO Work Programme” side event at the GEO XIV Plenary, held in October 2017, in Washington D.C. These four EO4HEALTH projects, which use EO data and technology to support project objectives and GEO efforts, include:
Myanmar Malaria Early Warning System (Tatiana Loboda, University of Maryland, College Park)
Objective: Develop a robust satellite data driven early warning system to forecast malaria hotspots dynamically in space-time in Myanmar.
Implications: Project methodology and data fusion from multiple moderate and coarse resolution optical and microwave sensors will allow for an 8-day system update period, with mapping primarily at moderate resolution that is relevant to village-scale assessments.
Environmental Determinants of Enteric Infectious Disease (Ben Zaitchik, Johns Hopkins University)
Objective: Develop a database of relevant climate, hydrology, ecology, and human activity at global gastrointestinal disease study sites.
Implications: This database will be used to develop statistical models of high impact enteric (gastrointestinal) infectious diseases, with the goal of informing understanding, monitoring, and prediction at MAL-ED sites.
Predictive Assessment of Transmission Conditions of Cholera in the Environment and Human Population using Earth Observations (Antarpreet Jutla, University of Florida)
Objective: Predict the risk of outbreak (trigger and transmission) of cholera in the environment and human populations in Africa.
Implications: This project will systematically validate the epidemic and endemic cholera hypothesis for the trigger component of cholera and develop, calibrate, and validate a predictive model for the transmission component of cholera. It will also develop a comprehensive capacity building plan that aims to engage end-users to incorporate this information into decision-making and facilitate the creation and implementation of appropriate intervention strategies.
GeoHealth: A Geospatial Surveillance and Response System Resource for Vector Borne Disease in the Americas (John Malone, Louisiana State University and A&M College)
Objective: Characterize the environmental suitability and potential for spread of selected endemic and epizootic vector-borne diseases in the Americas.
Implications: This project will develop prototype geospatial models on visceral leishmaniasis and Aedes aegypti-borne arboviruses (dengue, Zika, chikungunya), which have the potential for epizootic spread from Latin America and the Caribbean and establishment in North America.
Future Activities and Engagements
Future engagement will incorporate collaborations with GEO health-related flagships (e.g., GEO Biodiversity Observation Network, GEO BON; GEO Global Agricultural Monitoring, GEOGLAM; GEO System for Mercury, GOS4M), initiatives (e.g., AfriGEOSS; AmeriGEOSS; AOGEOSS; AquaWatch; Blue Planet) and Community Activities (e.g., AIRNOW International; Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service; Harmful Algal Bloom Early Warning System), in efforts to achieve objectives that focus on SDG targets and Sendai Framework priorities and targets.
Contacts for Project Leadership
John Haynes, NASA (USA) Email: jhaynes@nasa.gov
Juli Trtanj, NOAA (USA) Email: juli.trtanj@noaa.gov
Helena Chapman, NASA (USA) Email: helena.chapman@nasa.gov