ArticleInternational journal of health geographics2026
What is rural? Examining the relationship between human populations and their inter-connectedness in the context of communicable disease transmission.
Article in International journal of health geographics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Higher free-roaming dog density sustains rabies virus transmission in Haiti.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Chasing rabies herd immunity: evaluating dog vaccination strategies and post-vaccination survey reliability in urban and peri-urban Bangladesh.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRurality and urbanicity are recognized determinants of public health outcomes that influence policy and resource allocation. However, many commonly used methods to classify the rural-urban continuum, such as the Rural-Urban Commuting Area (RUCA) codes, lack applicability in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study introduces the Settlement Type and Road Connectivity (STARC) methodology, which offers a standardized and accessible approach to classifying regions along the rural-urban continuum.
methodsLeveraging open-source software and readily available data, STARC generates detailed maps composed of small hexagonal polygons. Each hexagon unit is assigned one of twenty-four categorical STARC codes based on its estimated population density and community-based road connectivity. Collectively, the hexagon units comprise the base layer STARC map. Additional metrics related to disease transmission can be overlayed onto each STARC hexagon unit in order to perform hotspot analysis via the local Gi* statistic and create transmission zones. All operations within the STARC process have been packaged into a publicly available tool on GitHub.
resultsTo demonstrate the STARC process, we executed the full STARC methodology at the local, national, and regional level for study areas in Central and Western Africa. Free roaming dog densities were selected as the metric of interest in order to identify hotspots and transmission clusters for dog-mediated rabies.
conclusionsIn our analysis we demonstrate that STARC codes can be used to standardize the rural-urban continuum and better understand the distribution of connectedness of populations. Hotspot analysis of free roaming dogs in several African countries shows that dog populations, a key factor in rabies transmission, are often concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas, many of which span domestic and international boundaries. By providing a dynamic and data-driven approach to understanding the rural-urban landscape, STARC offers a valuable tool for public health interventions in LMICs.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.