Spatial and Digital Epidemiology of HIV/AIDS and Other Sexually Transmitted Infections
A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Infectious Disease Epidemiology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2023) | Viewed by 375
Special Issue Editors
Interests: data science; spatial epidemiology; HIV; matematical modelling; global health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) spread through populations via sexual networks, for which the connectivity configuration of a network is a crucial component for the efficient transmission of these infections to new hosts. Recent work uncovered the extraordinary geographical heterogeneity of these contact networks influencing the risk of HIV and other STIs. These findings identified priority geographic areas in which vulnerable populations at high risk are concentrated and, thus, present a real opportunity to apply spatially targeted interventions to the most at-risk population to maximize the impact of these interventions on an epidemic scale. The geographic analysis of infectious diseases such as STIs may shed essential insight on these diseases' etiology and transmission dynamics. The identification of spatial and temporal factors associated with disease incidence and dispersion may identify target risk factors and determinants for developing and implementing efficient and cost-effective intervention programs. Spatial and temporal statistical and mathematical models may be of great value in the design of geographically targeted program interventions. As a result, in recent years, a radical shift in the understanding of geographically targeted interventions has prompted international agencies, such as the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to include geographical prioritization as a critical component of their overall HIV intervention strategies. The focus of this Special Issue is the presentation of novelties in the domain of spatial and quantitative analyses relevant to modeling STIs, including HIV.
This Special Issue calls for high-quality original research articles and reviews concerning subjects including, but not limited to, the following:
- Applications of epidemiologic research using geospatial data or methods exemplify close integration of theories, spatial methods and inferences to study the epidemiology of HIV and other STIs;
- The implementation of spatial and temporal statistical models to identify, quantify and predict variables of interest in HIV and other STI epidemiologies;
- Spatial composite indicators for monitoring the spread of HIV and other STIs;
- Developing and evaluating novel spatial analyses or geographical linkage methods to measure health-relevant population exposures and disease outcomes;
- The identification of spatial and temporal trends;
- Prediction methods revealing spatial and temporal patterns of HIV and other STIs;
- The design and evaluation of geospatial strategies to control the spread of HIV and other STIs.
Dr. Diego Fernando Cuadros
Dr. Godfrey Musuka
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- sexually transmitted infections
- HIV
- spatial analysis
- spatial epidemiology
- mathematical modeling
- geospatial targeted interventions
- spatial risk factors
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