L'article du mois ( juillet 2018)

Tele-epidemiology: general approach and specific case of meningitis in Africa

N. Martiny, J.-F Léon, P. Roucou, J. Mueller, H. Broutin

Tele-epidemiology is a recent research field based on the use of remote sensing products to understand climate-environment/health relationships at fine spatial and temporal scales. It is an efficient approach for “climate/environment-sensitive” disease, i.e. disease for which ~25% of the variability can be statistically explained by climate and/ or environmental factors. The specific case of meningitis is presented here as an example of application. Based on AQUA/MODIS Deep Blue aerosol products and World Health Organisation (WHO) meningitis surveillance bulletins in 15 countries of the meningitis belt, we demonstrate that the area at risk for meningitis epidemics is highly dependent on dry and dusty conditions at the scale of the belt. This paves the way for the definition of an early warning system for meningitis, and further, respiratory diseases in Africa.