GIS

In 2011, injury by firearms accounted for 32,351 deaths (10.4 deaths per 100,000 population) in the United States. This rate was higher than any infectious or parasitic disease (the highest being 2.5 for both viral hepatitis and HIV disease). Furthermore, death by gunshots accounted for over half of all suicides and over two-thirds of all homicides in the US. Despite the disproportionate media coverage of mass shootings and assault weapon violence, the vast majority of these deaths are attributable to non-mass shootings and to handguns. Though a contentious issue in the United States, understanding this cause of death is vital to confronting the issue locally and nationally. Traditionally, death certificates, crime data, cross-sectional studies, and retrospective studies have most commonly been utilized in this endeavor; however, the collection of real-time emergency department (ED) visit information presents a unique opportunity to track gunrelated injuries to supplement our current understanding of this issue. The Houston Department of Health and Human Services (HDHHS) has been receiving this information for over a decade from EDs in the greater-Houston area, and the department is currently connected to 32 of the largest EDs in the area. The current study aims to enhance the understanding of gunshot-related injuries in the Houston area and present a model for utilizing RODS information for this purpose.

Objective

To introduce a model to track gunshot-related injuries, describe gun-related injuries in Houston, and investigate the association between gun-related injuries and social determinants of health using syndromic surveillance data.

Champaign and Urbana, Illinois are considered twin cities that share the University of Illinois. Due to different geographic recruitment procedures, Champaign and Urbana public elementary schools offer a particularly novel opportunity to examine the H1N1 outbreak among students. Urbana schools recruit from specific geographic areas (neighborhoods) designated by the school district whereas Champaign schools are non-selective in their composition where students residing in Champaign can attend any school within the city.

Objective

The goal of this project is to examine the patterns of school absenteeism during the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 comparing two contiguous school districts with very different enrollment policies.

Geographic Information System (GIS) technology provides visual tools, through the creation of computerized maps, graphs, and tables of geographic data, which can assist with problem solving and inform decision-making. One of the GIS tools being developed by KFL&A Public Health is the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Mapper. The SDOH Mapper consists of layers of information related to deprivation and marginalization indices across Ontario. The SDOH Mapper facilitates the inclusion of information related to vulnerable populations with the use of both age and social determinants of health data into the GIS portal. This is useful for observing trends in marginalization and deprivation across dissemination areas in Ontario, and for examining health inequities in an area over time. The SDOH mapper will, in this way, improve knowledge transmission on the effects of poverty and marginalization on outcomes.

Objective

To describe how the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) Mapper is used by KFL&A Public Health to enhance real-time situational awareness of vulnerable populations across Ontario by facilitating the inclusion of information relating to marginalization and deprivation indices.