Last week, we’ve had the pleasure of hosting researchers from across the globe in Hasselt for GEOMED 2024, a conference dedicated to advancing the field of spatial epidemiology.
Spatial epidemiology has become very important for public health management to understand how diseases are geographically spread, to understand how environmental, social and demographic factors influence disease patterns, to identify disease clusters and hotspots, and for targeting public health interventions, in response to climate change, etc. All of these topics and more were discussed at the conference.
“It has been wonderful to reconnect with colleagues from around the world,” says co-organizer Christel Faes. She was excited to see so many great methodological advancements in the field to answer public health questions. Still, some challenges and open problems remain to be tackled.
“One key takeaway came from Andy Tatem’s insightful plenary talk. He emphasized the growing need for fine-scale geographical analysis to address public health concerns, but also the significant challenges in obtaining accurate data, including population data, at this level. He highlighted the critical role of data collection, as statistical methods alone cannot replace in-the-field data gatherings.”
Many other speakers talked about the geographical approaches to answer public health questions, taking into account the challenges posed by data limitations.
“The result was a nice mix between (statistical) methodology and application (in public health), showing the field’s progress depends on cross-disciplinary collaboration – epidemiologists, geographers, data scientists, and public health officials, all working together to improve health outcomes.”
Lastly, Faes wants to thank everyone who contributed to making this event such a success. “I am already looking forward to the next edition of GEOMED in 2026, which will be hosted by Lola Ugarte in Spain.”
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Some impressions of the meeting:
