November 26, 2025

NESAC, ISRO in collaboration with RRSC-North, NRSC, organised a two-day training program on "Utilization of Remote Sensing and GIS Tools" for Officials of Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH), Shillong during November 6-7, 2025. The training was organised at NESAC Outreach Facility with remote participation from RRSC-North officials. This training is under the ISRO-AHPI collaboration for the project titled "Epidemiology of Scrub Typhus and Other Zoonotic and Vector-Borne Diseases (ZVBDs) in Meghalaya" being executed jointly by RRSC-North/NRSC, IIPH Shillong, and NESAC

Scrub Typhus fever, a vector borne bacterial disease, is on the rise in North Eastern India and is driven by factors like region's humid, subtropical climate and land use patterns that are creating ideal habitats for the vector mites (chiggers). Fever due to bacterial infection, may cause mortality if left untreated at the earliest, leading to lung and kidney failures. GIS systems using EO based analysis can help to monitor and prioritize action to abate the same.

Training programme focused on familiarising officials for application of open-source GIS tools for mapping, monitoring using EO data. It also deliberated on aspects of spatial data modelling including intensive field inventory using open tools. The training program enhanced the geospatial data collection and analytics capacity of public health officials. This would support the broader goals of collaboration to apply space technologies in epidemiology and health monitoring.