GLOBAL DIFFUSION PATTERN AND HOT SPOT ANALYSIS OF VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASES

Abstract. Spatial characteristics reveal the concentration of vaccine-preventable disease in Africa and the Near East and that disease dispersion is variable depending on disease. The exception is whooping cough, which has a highly variable center of concentration from year to year. Measles exhibited the only statistically significant spatial autocorrelation among all the diseases under investigation. Hottest spots of measles are in Africa and coldest spots are in United States, warm spots are in Near East and cool spots are in Western Europe. Finally, cases of measles could not be explained by the independent variables, including Gini index, health expenditure, or rate of immunization. Since the literature confirms that each of the selected variables is considered determinants of disease dissemination, it is anticipated that the global dataset of disease cases was influenced by reporting bias.