A Geographic Information System for Supporting the Surveillance of Dengue Infection in Songkhla Province

Abstract

In 2012, Thailand reported the worst dengue outbreak in 20 years, with 136 deaths and 154,773 people infected with one of four dengue viruses. Songkhla province is one of the areas in Thailand that is highly prone to dengue infection epidemic for several years. Dengue infection in this province is not only showing increased incidence, it is also spreading geographically. In this research, a prototype of geographic information system (GIS) for supporting the surveillance of dengue infection in Songkhla province is proposed. The system composes of three components. The first component is a pool of data management. There are two input methods; a manual entry and an import file from R506 program. The second component is a tool for analyzing the data. Finally, the last component is a tool for presenting the results as a map images through the internet. This system was developed by using an open source software including Quantum GIS, GeoServer, OpenLayers and PostgreSQL. This system was assessed using a questionnaire examining functional requirement, validation and ease of use. The results showed that the overall assessment of this system is satisfied and can be deployed practically.