The prospect of Geographic Information System (GIS) in healthcare is remarkably broad. Its ability to link geography and data unleashes critical information which can guide health researchers, policymakers and medical practitioners to make targeted medical intervention. Although the usage of GIS is widespread in advanced economies, developing countries like India’s adoption of these geospatial technologies are relatively restricted due to systemic issues. With the ongoing public health challenges, there is a need for India to tap the potential GIS can offer by introducing right legal and regulatory frameworks.
With an increased global inter connectedness,any event in one region can have a cascading effect on other economies. The latest case in point is the novel Coronavirus which has spread, from Wuhan to 116 different countries around the world,in a short span of two months. One of the greatest fears of an epidemic is its contagion in a region that is poorly equipped to undertake containment procedures. Sophisticated modelling is being used to predict the transmission; scientists are making serious attempts to fight this virus. However, to contain such diseases requires a strong health and integrated data system that many developing nations are bereft of, thereby magnifying the contagion
Views expressed by the author are personal and need not reflect or represent the views of Centre for Public Policy Research.
Nissy Solomon is Hon. Trustee (Research & Programs) at CPPR. She has a background in Economics with a master’s degree in Public Policy from the National Law School of India University, Bangalore. After graduation and prior to her venture into the public policy domain, she worked as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Analyst with Nokia-Heremaps. Her postgraduate research explored the interface of GIS in Indian healthcare planning. She is broadly interested in Public Policy, Economic Development and Spatial Analysis for policymaking.