The use of geoprocessing to strengthen the epidemiological surveillance of covid-19 - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

The use of geoprocessing to strengthen the epidemiological surveillance of covid-19 |

The use of space to understand event distribution in epidemiology is not recent. Since the dawn of classical epidemiology, with the studies of Jhon Snow, space has been strongly identified as one of the main variables for sanitary analysis of the magnitude and transcendence of public health problems. The territory in which individuals live and work constitutes the locus where the social determinants of health (SDH) interact, in order to influence the dynamics of health events.

Territory mapping is a routine activity of nursing practice in Primary Health Care (PHC). The benefits of using geoprocessing in PHC have been reported in different regions of the world, namely: possibility of updating and analyzing epidemiological data in the form of maps; broader and more agile understanding of the population’s health problems; optimization of health professionals’ work process; assessment of the integrity of local surveillance programs; and identification of existing inequities in the territory for a better resource distribution⁽⁾.

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