Validation of three geolocation strategies for health-facility attendees for research and public health surveillance in a rural setting in western Kenya

STRESMAN, G. H.; STEVENSON, J. C.; OWAGA, C.; MARUBE, E.; ANYANGO, C.; DRAKELEY, C.; BOUSEMA, T.; COX, J.

Many infectious diseases show microepidemiological geographical variation. Outbreaks of (emerging) infectious diseases may be geographically confined or start in small pockets that later give rise to larger outbreaks [1] [2] [3] [4] . For endemic infectious diseases with stable disease transmission, considerable geographical heterogeneity in the intensity of transmission has been described [2, [5] [6] [7] [8] . Geographical variation for both epidemic and endemic infectious disease occurrence has important public health consequences. Identifying regions with higher disease burden can facilitate costeffective prioritization of control efforts [9] [10] [11] . Within regions, identifying areas of persistent and intense transmission may prevent outbreaks of disease that spread from these areas and support disease elimination strategies when overall disease occurrence has declined [2, 12, 13] . To allow spatial targeting of disease control efforts, attributing a geographical location to each disease occurrence is ideal, and the minimum number required for accurate monitoring is likely to be disease specific [9, 14, 15] .