RESEARCHERS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA IN HUNTSVILLE (UAH) IN COLLABORATION WITH THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC) AND THE NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION (NASA) PROPOSE TO IMPROVE MALARIA CONTROL DECISION MAKING IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA BY DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING A TECHNOLOGY FOR INCORPORATING THE LATEST NASA EARTH OBSERVATIONS FOR SURFACE TEMPERATURES PRECIPITATION AND VEGETATION HEALTH INTO A WIDELY USED HEALTH MANAGEMENT PLATFORM TITLED DISTRICT HEALTH INFORMATION SOFTWARE 2 (DHIS2). DHIS2 IS THE PREFERRED HEALTH MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IN 60 COUNTRIES ACROSS FOUR CONTINENTS WORLDWIDE INCLUDING ALL SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES WITH WHOM CDC WORKS. DHIS2 IS USED BY CDC THE EUROPEAN UNION (EU) AND OTHER HEALTH FACILITIES AND GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS TO MONITOR DISEASES PROVIDE VITAL HEALTH DATA AND SUPPORT DISEASE-CONTROL DECISION MAKING. MALARIA HAS BEEN SELECTED FOR THE CASE STUDY BECAUSE OF THE WELL-ESTABLISHED IMPACTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON TRANSMISSION OF THE DISEASE. THIS PROPOSAL IS BASED ON THE HYPOTHESIS THAT INTEGRATION OF DISEASE INFORMATION WITH ENVIRONMENTAL DATA CAN PROVIDE DISEASE CONTROL DECISION MAKERS WITH THE INTEGRATED ACCURATE AND UP-TO-DATE SITUATIONAL VIEW NEEDED TO OPTIMIZE INTERVENTIONS. SUCCESSFUL FUSION OF EARTH OBSERVATION DATA WITH A HEALTH MONITORING APPLICATION WILL BE APPLICABLE TO OTHER NASA DATA PRODUCTS AND OTHER DISEASES MONITORED THROUGH DHIS2. THIS PROPOSAL BRINGS TOGETHER A STRONG TEAM OF EXPERTS WITH A HISTORY OF RESEARCH IN ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE EARTH SCIENCE GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY REMOTE SENSING DISEASE MONITORING AS WELL AS A PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF PREVIOUS COLLABORATIONS: PI DR. JOHN BECK (UAH) GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY LEAD; CO-I DR. JOHN PAINTER (CDC) MALARIA RESEARCHER AND DHIS2 USER; CO-I DR. UDAYSANKAR NAIR (UAH) VEGETATION HEALTH REMOTE SENSING ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE RESEARCHER; MR. TODD BERENDES (UAH) SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT AND PRECIPITATION RESEARCHER; AND DR. DALE QUATTROCHI (NASA) REMOTE SENSING AND TEMPERATURE RESEARCHER. WE WILL ALSO LEVERAGE EXPERT KNOWLEDGE BY COLLABORATING WITH DR. WALT PETERSEN (NASA) GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENTS (GPM) DEPUTY PROGRAM SCIENTIST. THE OBJECTIVES OF THIS APPLIED RESEARCH PROJECT WILL BE TO DEMONSTRATE (1) ENHANCED HEALTH DECISION MAKING FOR MALARIA CONTROL BY EMPLOYING THE LATEST RELEVANT NASA EARTH OBSERVATIONS INTO AN EXISTING DECISION-MAKING ACTIVITY AND (2) DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS THAT WILL PROVIDE A PATH TO LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY FOR THE USE OF NASA EARTH OBSERVATIONS TO END-USER HEALTH DECISION MAKERS. THE UAH AND NASA TEAM MEMBERS PROVIDE STRONG EARTH SCIENCE DATA AND TECHNOLOGY EXPERIENCE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOLUTIONS FOR INTEGRATING STATE-OF-THE-ART EARTH OBSERVATIONS INTO AN EXISTING BROADLY USED DECISION SUPPORT PLATFORM. THE CDC TEAM BRINGS EXPERTISE IN MALARIA EPIDEMIOLOGY AND ESTABLISHED COLLABORATIONS WITH MANY OF THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN COUNTRIES THAT WILL BE CONSIDERED FOR TEAMING AS END-USER PARTICIPANTS. TRAVEL TO PARTICIPATING COUNTRIES FOR CLOSE INTERACTIONS WITH THEIR MINISTRIES OF HEALTH WILL BE CRUCIAL FOR TEAM-BUILDING DEPLOYMENT AND TESTING OF THE TECHNOLOGIES AND DATA AS WELL AS LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF THE RESULTING IMPROVED DECISION-MAKING CAPACITY.