Health and Medical Geography

1. What Is Health and Medical Geography?

- What’s in a Name?

- A Brief History of Health and Medical Geography

- Definitions and Terminology

- The Challenge of Health Geography

- References

- Review Questions

2. Ecology of Health and Disease

- Disease Agents and Transmission Processes

- The Triangle of Human Ecology

- Landscape Epidemiology and Vectored Diseases

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

3. Expanding Disease Ecology

- Political Ecology

- The Poverty Syndrome

- Race in the Study of Health Risks

- Gender and Sex: Women’s Health

- Causal Reasoning and Epidemiological Design

- HIV and AIDS: Gender, Mobility, and Political Ecology

- The Precautionary Principle and Some Political Ecology of Research

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

4. Transitions and Development

- Ecologies of Population Change: Multiple Transitions

- Major Impacts of Population Change

- Environmental Exposures, the Mobility Transition, and Time–Space Geography

- Disease Ecologies of the Agricultural Frontier

- Other Development Impacts on Rural Ecologies

- Globalization of Movements

- Conclusion: Emerging Diseases in Your Future

- References

- Review Questions

II. Maps and Methods

5. Maps, GIS, and Spatial Analysis

- Cartography of Health and Disease

- Geographic Information Systems

- Spatial Statistics

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

6. Disease Diffusion

- Diffusion Background

- Epidemiological Background

- Types of Diffusion

- Networks and Barriers

- Modeling Disease Diffusion

- Influenzas

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

7. Emerging Infectious Diseases and Landscape Genetics

- What’s in a Name? Emerging, Reemerging, or Always There

- Why Do Diseases Emerge, Reemerge, or Persist?

- Where Can We Expect These Diseases to Emerge/Reemerge?

- How Will These Diseases Behave?

- Landscape Genetics

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

III. What We Eat and Where We Live

8. Food, Diet, and the Nutrition Transition

- From Hunter-Gatherers to Farmers

- The Columbian Exchange

- Modern Agricultural Systems

- The Green Revolution

- The Nutritional Transition

- Commercial Agriculture and the Nutrition Transition

- Direct and Indirect Health Effects of Agricultural and Dietary Changes

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

9. Neighborhoods and Health

- The Concept of Neighborhood Health

- Social Context and Health

- Effects of the Built Environment on Health

- Opportunities and Challenges in Neighborhood Effects Studies

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

10. Urban Health

- Cities and Urbanization

- A Brief History of Cities

- Large Cities in the Modern Era

- Developing World Cities: Dickens or a Dream?

- Traffic

- Disappearing Cities?

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

IV. Environments and Climates

11. Environment and Health

- Toxic Hazards

- Outdoor Air Pollution

- Indoor Air Pollution

- Water Pollution

- Sources and Health Effects of Lead

- Risk Assessment and Prevention

- Globalization and the Perception of Health Hazards

- Hazards, Power, Policy, and Environmental Justice

- Healthy Environments

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

12. Climate and Health

- Direct Biometeorological Influences

- The Influences of the Weather

- Seasonality of Death and Birth

- Physical Zonation of Climates and Biomes

- Climate Change and Health

- Conclusion

- References

- Review Questions

V. Health Care and Final Thoughts

13. Health Services and Access to Care

- What Is Access?

- The Provision of Medical Care

- Cultural Alternatives and Perceptions

- Conclusion: Transforming the Health Service Landscape

- References

- Review Questions

14. Concluding Words

- Review Questions

- Glossary