Spatial analysis of the distribution of children with asthma in Al-Muthanna governorate using geographic information systems (GIS)

• Main Author: Saoudi, Nadia Hussein Ali
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Asthma; Cartography; Geographic information systems; Geographical distribution; Spatial analysis; Spatial distribution
• ISSN: 0094-243X; 1551-7616
• DOI: 10.1063/5.0093442

This study is conducted with the aim of evaluating the spatial distribution of children with asthma in Al-Muthanna Governorate, identifying the health status of children under 15 years old for the year 2019, as well as presenting a method for analyzing the geographical distribution of the infected children through the spatial analysis tools available in geographic information systems. The analytical descriptive approach has been adopted which is based on quantitative methods and cartographic representation, starting with data collection and processing by applying the methodology of spatial analysis of the cases of asthma in Al-Muthanna Governorate. GIS (Arc 10.6) has been used for doing the cartographic analysis, and displaying the results through tables, charts and maps using the standard distance, Direction Distribution and Kernel Density analysis. The study has found a spatial variation in the distribution of the disease among the administrative units of the governorate in terms of the numerical and relative distribution of asthma cases among children in the districts and sub-districts of Al-Muthanna. The values ranged among the highest percentage recorded at Al-Samawah (37%) and the lowest one (1.2%) in Al-Salman. The governorate recorded a clear increase in the prevalence of asthma, amounting to (256,2) per 10,000 children. The year 2019 has witnessed an increase in the level of disease prevalence in comparison to the previous years, as it is significantly higher than 2015 by (38.4%).