[Health Geographic Information System (HGIS)--a tool for health planning and epidemiology]

The development of the Health Geographic Information System (HGIS) concept, associated to the wide availability of adapted software applications, has offered an invaluable tool to Public Health Professionals. However its use is still too often limited to the graphic presentation of data or to structural planning, neglecting its main advantages. The HGIS has proven to be a potent tool for risk assessment, decision making, intervention evaluation and health planning. In spite of all the obstacles, the transformation of geographic information systems (GIS) into an epidemiological tool adapted to the health system (HGIS) can now be done in a relatively short span of time, with a minimal investment in terms of budget and manpower. The use of an outsourcing policy enables to limit the operational running costs in health organizations such as the Health Ministry, Hospitals or Sick Funds.