GEO Task US-09-01a: Critical Earth Observations Priorities Human Health Societal Benefit Area: Infectious Disease User Interface Committee US-09-01a Task Lead: Lawrence Friedl, USA/NASA Infectious Disease Analyst: Pietro Ceccato, Columbia University 2010 GEO Task US-09-01a Study Participants The following people served as expert panelists in the ad hoc Advisory Group for the Human Health Infectious Diseases Societal Benefit Area (SBA) under the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Task US-09-01a. The advisory group supported the analyst by identifying source materials, reviewing analytic methodologies, assessing findings, and reviewing this report. Ulisses E.C. CONFALONIERI, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ), Brazil Stephen J. CONNOR, The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA Pat DALE, Griffith University, Australia Joaquim DASILVA, World Health Organization, Regional Office of Africa, Zimbabwe Ruth DEFRIES, Columbia University, USA Gregory GLASS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA John HAYNES, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Applied Sciences Program, USA Darby JACK, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA Isabelle JEANNE, International Consultant (from Réseau International des Instituts Pasteur/Institut Francilien des Sciences Appliquées), France Erick KHAMALA, Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development, Kenya Patrick KINNEY, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, USA Uriel KITRON, Emory University, USA Murielle LAFAYE, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, France Forrest MELTON, Division of Science and Environmental Policy, California State University, Montery Bay, USA Jacques André NDIONE, Centre de Suivi Ecologique, Sénégal Masami ONODA, GEOSS, Switzerland Earth Observation Priorities: Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA ● Page i GEO Task US-09-01a David ROGERS, Health and Climate Foundation, Switzerland Leonid ROYTMAN, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Cooperative Remote Sensing Science & Technology Center, USA Juli TRTANJ, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA The Analyst for the Human Health Infectious Diseases Societal Benefit Area provided overall coordination of the analysis and prepared this report. The following person served as the Analyst under GEO Task US-09-01a: Pietro CECCATO, The International Research Institute for Climate and Society, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, USA Catherine Green, Gilma Mantilla, and Gino Chen from The International Research Institute for Climate and Society also assisted in the collection and analysis of documents from English, Spanish, and Chinese literature. Acknowledgment This study and report were funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through Eastern Research Group, Inc. (ERG), as part of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) project US-09-01a, which was managed by Lawrence Friedl of NASA on behalf of GEO’s User Interface Committee. Jan Connery (ERG) provided overall coordination between the project team, EPA, and other research groups within the larger context of this project. GEO Task US-09-01a Lawrence FRIEDL (USA/NASA) is the Task Lead for GEO Task US-09-01a; he is a member of the GEO User Interface Committee. Amy Jo SWANSON (USA/Science Systems and Applications, Inc) is the US-09- 01a Task Coordinator, providing logistics and coordination amongst the Analysts. The US-09-01a task sheet summary on the GEO website identifies additional people involved in GEO Task US-09-01a. Earth Observation Priorities: Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA ● Page ii GEO Task US-09-01a Summary The goal of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Task US-09-01a is to identify the Earth observations (EO) that are critical for various societal benefit areas (SBAs). This analysis focuses specifically on the identification of observations required by users in the Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA, more specifically vector-borne and non-vector-borne diseases that are influenced by climate and environmental factors. An ad hoc Advisory Group of 19 members from around the world was assembled to help identify documents; assess methodologies and analytic techniques; assess prioritization schemes; and review the results presented in the preliminary and final reports. Documents potentially containing information related to observation requirements were identified through literature and Internet searches and through Advisory Group recommendations. After evaluating all documents for their applicability to this task, 823 were found to provide relevant information that could be used in the priority setting analysis. The relevant documents were analyzed within an Access database created for this project. The database file (Env-Health.mdb) is accessible via the web link: http://iri.columbia.edu/~pceccato/GEO-Human- Health-SBA-Access-database/. Observation requirements were extracted from the documents for each of the two subareas individually. To provide a more complete picture of which observations were indicated as priority by the documents, the observations were grouped in four categories (i.e., climate, environment, human dimension, vector ecology). Although all the diseases are important since they affect human population and therefore any EO parameter used should be treated as equal, it was decided to prioritize the EO parameters according to the burden of the disease. The overall burden of disease was assessed using the disability-adjusted life year (DALY), a time-based measure that combines years of life lost due to premature mortality and years of life lost due to time lived in states of less than full health. The EO parameters will be ranked based on the DALY values using a cumulative impact. Four lists of EO priorities then were created for each of the four categories. These priority lists, along with the specific physical requirements for the observations, will ultimately be incorporated into a broad cross-SBA analysis to be performed by GEO to identify critical Earth observations across all nine SBAs. Earth Observation Priorities: Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA ● Page iii GEO Task US-09-01a Table of Contents Study Participants .................................................................................................. i Summary ............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................. iv List of Tables and Figures .................................................................................... vi 1 Introduction .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Group on Earth Observations ................................................................. 1 1.2 GEO Task US-09-01a............................................................................. 1 1.3 Purpose of Report .................................................................................. 2 1.4 Scope of Report ...................................................................................... 2 2 Methodology .................................................................................................. 4 2.1 Task Process .......................................................................................... 4 2.2 Analyst and Advisory Group ................................................................... 4 2.2.1 Analyst ............................................................................................. 4 2.2.2 Advisory Group ................................................................................ 5 2.3 Methodology ........................................................................................... 7 2.3.1 Documents ...................................................................................... 7 2.3.2 Analytic Methods ............................................................................. 8 2.3.3 Prioritization Methods .................................................................... 11 3 Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA ...................................................... 13 3.1 Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA Description ............................ 13 3.2 Sub-Areas ............................................................................................. 15 3.2.1 Vector-Borne Diseases ....................................................................... 15 3.2.2 Non-Vector-Borne Diseases ............................................................... 16 3.3 Documents ........................................................................................... 17 3.4 Users .................................................................................................... 19 3.4.1 User Types ......................................................................................... 19 3.4.2 User Needs ......................................................................................... 20 4 Earth Observations for Human Health Infectious Diseases SBA ................. 22 4.1 Earth Observations for Vector-Borne Diseases .................................... 22 4.2 Earth Observations for Non-Vector-Borne Diseases ............................ 35 5 Priority Earth Observations for Human Health Infectious Disease SBA ....... 47 5.1 Priority Observations ...........................................................................