Innovation to impact in spatial epidemiology

Abstract

Spatial epidemiology is a rapidly advancing field, pushing our abilities to measure, monitor and map pathogens at increasingly finer spatiotemporal scales. However, these scales often do not align with the abilities of control programmes to act at them, building a disconnect between academia and implementation. Efforts are being made to feed innovations into government, build spatial data skills, and strengthen links between disease control programmes and universities, yet work remains to be done if goals for disease control, elimination and 'leaving no one behind' are to be met.