This four-year project financed by the Belgian Science Policy is aimed at developing remote sensing tools for improving the
analysis of the space/time dynamics of disease transmission. Two case-studies have been selected, the first being focussed on a
vector-borne disease and the second on a highly contagious disease, i.e. (1) the presence and spread of Bluetongue (ovine catarrhal fever)
in Italy and in the Mediterranean basin and (2) the dynamics of transmission of foot-and-mouth disease at the fringe of the Great
Limpopo Transfrontier Park in southern Africa. Although these case-studies target specific animal diseases, the innovative
approaches that will be developed and implemented will be generic and therefore applicable to other diseases, including human diseases,
having a similar epidemiological setting. A preliminary epidemiological analysis will ensure the collection of the necessary data
on disease occurrence, vectors, potential hosts, wildlife, cattle and human population. Data derived from remote sensing - from
low to very-high spatial resolution - will serve on the one hand as an information source at the epidemiological level and on the
other hand as input variables in spatially-explicit models on different scales: distribution models on the country or regional
scale, landscape models and spread models on the local scale and models based on very-high resolution in focus areas requiring a higher
level of detail. All these models will be integrated in a space/time information system (STIS) so as to allow a more in-depth and
more integrated analysis than what has been done up to now in this field. The results will help assessing the risks of future
spread, show the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of existing barriers and improve the management and control of diseases.