Editorial

Spatial analysis of leprosy incidence and associated socioeconomic factors

“…7 Over the past few years, there has been an increase in the number of studies investigating healthcare issues using geographic information systems (GIS) and spatial analysis, reviving the importance of the role of the socio-cultural environment in the determination of diseases and the importance of a critical analysis of access to resources. 6 Several studies have employed spatial analysis techniques for leprosy, including investigations of spatial dependence of average leprosy detection rates in the state of São Paulo, 14,16 the control of communicants in a town within São Paulo, c an evaluation of the susceptibility to leprosy from communicants among residents on a small island in Indonesia, 4 and the search for spatial and spatial-temporal clusters of leprosy cases. 9,10 Faced with the necessity of reorganizing disease control strategies, directing resources, consolidating recent advances, assisting in decision making, and stimulating innovative actions in the surveillance of leprosy, this study aimed to identify clusters of major occurrences of leprosy as well as the socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with the disease.…”