Commentary: Are geographical “cold spots” of male circumcision driving differential HIV dynamics in Tanzania?

Frontiers in Public Health

Ereny Ibrahim¹ 

关键词: ecological fallacy;    ecological studies;    medical geography;    cold spot analysis;    HIV;    male circumcision;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpubh.2016.00046

学科分类：卫生学

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Availability of geographic information systems and the expansion of methodological approaches in geospatial analysis over the past decade have made studies focusing on the spatial distributions of disease increasingly more common (1). These types of investigations are valuable in identifying locations with unexpectedly high or low rates of disease. They also allow for the testing of hypotheses that look to find relationships between the prevalence of a disease and environmental factors. In practice, these studies are known as ecological studies and are often conducted using secondary data. They are efficient and cost-effective and allow for the exploration and generation of hypotheses; however, they are not able to provide a strong cause-and-effect relationship between a set of variables.

【 授权许可】

CC BY