Geographical display of health information: study of hepatitis C infection in Karachi, Pakistan.
The prevalence of hepatitis C and other infections is increasing in urban areas of developing countries. Data on such diseases are often limited to facility-based information. However, even this is not available in a usable form to health care providers, health managers and policy makers. We present a simple technique for visually displaying facility based prevalence information on hepatitis C using basic geographic information system (GIS) techniques. We display the prevalence of hepatitis C for the city of Karachi, Pakistan for the first time. The distribution tends to indicate that there are areas of higher prevalence located in specific districts. There is also a trend of higher prevalence in less affluent urban areas. Such simple applications of mapping technology are useful for rapidly summarizing and displaying information in a contextually and spatially meaningful fashion, and its use should be encouraged for displaying health indicators in developing countries.
Mujeeb
S A
SA
Blood Transfusion Services, Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, Karachi 75510, Pakistan.
Shahab
S
S
Hyder
A A
AA
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003196:Computer Graphics; D003906:Developing Countries; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D006285:Health Planning; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D011204:Poverty Areas; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016036:Seroepidemiologic Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D014504:Urban Health / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*