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Thursday, 7 March 2013

Sparkling public health gems: Using maps and spatially analyzed data.


A picture tells a thousand words.   Geographic Information Systems have matured over the decades and are not only a good tool for epidemiological and analytic purposes, but wonderful displays of how disparities exist in society.   The following are a collection of gems from the past few months worth gazing upon.

Adult obesity rates in Canada, updated for the past decade.  The full article in the Canadian Journal of Public Health for members only at this time, the charts are accessible at UBC press released on CJPH article  in the lower right corner. 

A wonderful but long slide show on global inequity when it comes to health outcomes and health services.   Views of the world.   The website provides access to other data presented through illustration with an emphasis on UK and European issues.

The disturbing distribution of uninsured Americans in the US Uninsured Americans .  Imagine the public health challenges faced in Miami, Houston, Dallas,  Las Vegas and Los Angeles areas where between one-fifth and one-quarter of the population have no health insurance.  The US improvement to only 15% without insurance is a remarkable positive step, but reflects the hurdles ahead to ensure access.

Not presented as maps, but using geographic boundaries for analysis, five key datasets presented on global economic health at Davos economic summit   .  Kudos to the World Economic Forum for included the GINI coefficient of equity as an economic health measure

And a point of trivia.  Despite great strides in reducing tobacco in Canada, each month, Canadians smoke about 2 billion cigarettes.   Statistics Canada follows monthly production and sales Stats Can daily  

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