Earth Observations for Health

Concept

The GEO Health Community of Practice (HEALTH-CoP) serves as a global network of governments, organizations, and observers who seek to use Earth observation data to improve health decision-making at international, regional, country, and district levels. The HEALTH-CoP focuses on implementing a One Health approach, utilizing Earth observation data among interdisciplinary and multi-agency teams to significantly advance scientific knowledge of ongoing public health threats by integrating human, animal, and ecosystem health. These efforts can facilitate spatial, analytical, and timely solutions needed to make Earth observation data and technology more accessible to the health community, especially for epidemiological analysis, risk modeling, surveillance, investigation, and emergency management.

The GEO HEALTH-CoP recognizes the urgency of applying novel technologies, products, data, and analytical approaches to develop timely action plans and decision-support tools that promote environmental sustainability and public health. To achieve established goals, the GEO Health CoP continues to identify and engage health partners, clarify and address health and training needs, and elucidate and manage observation and prediction gaps and needs through four specific approaches.

Addressing user-identified priority coverage gaps:

The GEO HEALTH-CoP coordinates bimonthly teleconferences with rotating themes to capture leading experts on topics and divulge in scientific dialogue that elucidates critical needs, gaps, and potential next course of action.

Developing user-driven, actionable tools and services:

It supports six work groups (Heat, Air Quality, Infectious Diseases, Food Security and Safety, Health Care Infrastructure, and Animal Health), composed of co-leads who organize bimonthly teleconference agendas, collaborative articles, and group discussions on timely topics.

Building capacity and expanding networks across geographic regions:

The GEO HEALTH-CoP organizes capacity-building opportunities as a platform for scientific exchange (e.g., Special Edition webinars to highlight research across regions) and establishes rapport with academic institutions (e.g., UNITEC-Honduras), Ministries of Health (Costa Rica and Ecuador), the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (Costa Rica and Dominican Republic), and space-based agencies (Canada, Mexico, and Paraguay).

Supporting youth engagement to address gaps and challenges:

It supports student engagement opportunities with co-designed/mentored projects and offers career and science talks to promote STEM careers in the United States and the Americas Region (Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Panama, and Paraguay).

Anticipated results will effectively promote novel and practical applications of Earth observations, in situ data, and other geospatial data sources to examine complex environmental challenges. The GEO HEALTH-CoP will prioritize three specific tasks aligned with bridging the Earth and health science communities. First, by supporting the six work group activities, contributing members will share timely technical expertise on research applications that can leverage and incorporate scientific knowledge on pressing health-related topics into decision-support tools (e.g., Cholera Prediction Hub) and capacity training (e.g., workshops). Second, by expanding connections to GEO Work Programme initiatives, the GEO HEALTH-CoP can build cross-collaborations with GEO AquaWatch, GEO Blue Planet, and GEO Biodiversity Observation Network, focusing on the interconnectedness between health, water quality, biodiversity, and pathogen transmission. Third, by framing a regional focus, timely partnerships with regional GEOs can offer a platform to explore local and national priorities related to diverse environmental topics.

Objectives

The GEO HEALTH-CoP provides scientific expertise, technical coordination, and programmatic support to co-produce Earth intelligence solutions addressing complex One Health challenges. The five objectives are: (1) Engaging with end-user communities to better understand and identify their data needs and requirements; (2) Implementing activities addressing the needs and requirements of end-user communities; (3) Improving the use of, and clarifying future needs for, Earth observations in health; (4) Providing timely insight and feedback on future Earth observation actions for health; and (5) Participating with other individuals, GEO communities of practice, and institutions to leverage the expertise that produces far-reaching outcomes.

They prioritize three specific tasks to strengthen One Health as a Focus Area across the GEO Work Programme.

Supporting work group activities:

Six GEO HEALTH-CoP work groups help facilitate the development and implementation of Earth observation science and technology, where contributing members and participating organizations provide scientific and technical expertise on selected health-related topics (Heat, Infectious Diseases, Air Quality, Food Security and Safety, Health Care Infrastructure, and Animal Health) for specific project tasks, deliverables (including white papers), and activities.

Expanding connections to GEO Work Programme initiatives:

Renewed collaborations with GEO AquaWatch (e.g., information sharing and access to water quality information), GEO Blue Planet (e.g., water-associated diseases), and GEO Biodiversity Observation Network (e.g., bird migration, habitat fragmentation, vector-borne disease impacts, and thermal microrefugia detection) help examine cross-cutting synergies between health, water quality, biodiversity, and pathogen transmission, as they relate to the SDGs (targets 3.3, 3.9, and 3.d) and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (target g and priority 3).

Framing a regional focus:

Highlighting robust applications of Earth observations across Regional GEOs (AfriGEO, AmeriGEO, EuroGEO, and AOGEO) can help leverage expertise, identify regional research gaps, encourage youth and student engagement, and broaden scientific networks across Earth and health science communities.