| Environment and Health Information Systems | |||
| Introduction course to methods for spatio-temporal analysis of exposure and health data | |||
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Within the framework of environmental public health policy, environment and health information systems have been developed for several years in the United States of America and in the European Community to assess population exposure to environmental toxics and the resulting health impacts. Beside their benefit for data collection and organization, these systems allow one to investigate correlations between environmental indicators and health effects and to follow their temporal and spatial trends, providing guidelines for design of better public health prevention plans. These new tools are particularly interesting for chronical diseases (cancers, cardio-pulmonary diseases) due to prolonged exposure to small doses of pollutants present in the media air, water or soil. Several conceptual and methodological issues still need to be addressed in the emerging domain of integrated environment and health data management. Solution to these problems, which requires the use of specific spatio-temporal methods, will lead to reduced uncertainty in health risk predictions.
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Dr. Pierre Goovaerts, consultant with PGeostat and chief scientist for the R&D company Biomedware (USA), is a reference in geostatistics. He has developed spatio-temporal methods specifically designed for the joint analysis of environmental and health data. FSS International, with several locations in Europe and a strong experience in geostatistics, is active in the field of environment and health risk assessment for more than ten years now, providing advice and continuing education, or designing softwares. With the increasing need for environmental and health data analysis methods in Europe, FSS International desires to strenghten its experience and collaboration in this domain.