A Discussion of the NASA's Future Plans for using Remote Sensing in Public Health Research

Background: NASA has used satellite remote sensing of the environment to provide a method for bridging gaps of environmental, spatial, and temporal data for tracking disease. This session will provide a look into the future of the NASA Public Health Program and the use of remotely sensed data to study the relationship between diseases and the environment.

Objective/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between living environment and public health research using remotely sensed data. This presentation will provide a venue where research and practice using remote sensing when applied to public health and the environment will be showcased. The session is directly related to GIS Mapping and Global Health Surveillance and will present research results of the remote sensing environmental observations of earth and health applications which can contribute to the public health research. Methods: The presentation will explore the environmental risk factors as predictors for diseases. The approach will discuss the resources of several different sources of environmental information: satellite observations, GIS and model outputs. Remotely sensed data is important contribution in areas of sparse data coverage, poor real-time reporting, and limited access to reliable environmental information.

Results: Overall, NASA satellites are advancing the realization of societal and economic benefits from NASA Earth science by identifying societal needs, conducting applied research and development, and collaborating with application developers and users.

Conclusions: Remotely sensed data can be utilized to characterize the environment, which in turn can be applied to studies of public health outcomes. Further study regarding the relationship between diseases and environment factors should be continued using NASA satellites