The primary aim of this dissertation was to develop and validate a methodology for
identifying spatial clusters (hotspots) of various paediatric cancers within South
Africa by using GIS software. The Hotspot Analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*) Tool was used
for this purpose. A series of spatial clusters (hotspots) were identified by the tool for
each cancer type and these clusters were compared with the exiting literature
regarding known environmental and other carcinogens. The quality of the cancer
data used in the dissertation was however found to be questionable and significantly
underreported. This caused the results of the tool to also be questionable. The
dissertation therefore concluded that the tool could be successfully used to identify
spatial clusters of cancer in principle. It was however found that the results of the tool
needed to be viewed without caution in this dissertation due to the low quality of the
cancer data used.