GISC4384 - Health and Environmental GIS

GISC 4384 Health and Environmental GIS (3 semester credit hours) This course covers emerging issues in global health and environmental policy, with special emphasis on applications of Geographic Information System (GIS) and spatial analytic tools in identifying and responding to physical and social environmental risk factors that impact the health and well-being of peoples throughout the world. This introductory but interdisciplinary course examines contemporary issues in global health and environmental policy and practices. This course helps students understand various social, economic, political and environmental determinants of health, and consider evidences that inequalities in education, income and accessibility to resources influence health status. Emphasis is placed on issues of global health inequality and environmental justice at various levels. Ample hands-on laboratory experiences will be provided on how to utilize various geospatial methods such as spatial analysis, modeling, simulation and mapping with real-world data using state-of-the-art commercial and open source software. Students will also develop skills in cost-effectiveness analysis and health outcome measurement, using a variety of contemporary global health case studies which focus on content areas such as maternal and child health, environmental health, infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS, malaria, diarrheal diseases, etc.) and global healthcare delivery. Students may need some quantitative skills to analyze global public health problems, but the level of the analytical components of the course will be determined by the background of the enrolled students. (Same as IPEC 4384) (3-0) T