Medical Geography, 3rd Edition

✍ Scribed by Melinda S. Meade, Michael Emch

• Publisher: Guilford Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 529
• Edition: 3rd
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The leading text in the field, this comprehensive book reviews geographic approaches to studying disease and public health issues across the globe. It presents cutting-edge techniques of spatial and social analysis and explores their relevance for understanding cultural and political ecology, disease systems, and health promotion. Essential topics include how new diseases emerge and epidemics develop in particular places; the intersecting influences on health of biological processes, culture, environment, and behavior; and the changing landscape of health care planning and service delivery. The text is richly illustrated with tables, figures, and maps, including 16 color plates.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover Page......Page 1
Title Page......Page 2
Copyright Page......Page 4
Preface......Page 6
Contents......Page 10
1. Questions of Medical Geography......Page 16
What’s in a Name?......Page 17
A Brief History of Medical Geography......Page 24
Definitions and Terminology......Page 32
The Challenge of Medical Geography......Page 36
References......Page 37
Further Reading......Page 39
2. The Human Ecology of Disease......Page 41
Health......Page 42
The Triangle of Human Ecology......Page 45
Transmission and Creation of Infectious Disease......Page 59
Nutrition and Health......Page 70
References......Page 80
Further Reading......Page 82
VIGNETTE 2.1. BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATIONS OF IMPORTANCE TO HEALTH......Page 83
3. Maps and Geographic Information Systems in Medical Geography......Page 88
Cartography of Disease......Page 89
Types of Maps: Some Issues......Page 92
Geographic Information Systems......Page 98
Disease Maps on the Web......Page 106
Conclusion......Page 108
References......Page 109
Further Reading......Page 110
4. Landscape Epidemiology......Page 113
Regions......Page 114
Transmissible Disease Systems......Page 115
The Landscape Epidemiology Approach......Page 125
The Cultural Dimension of Water-Based Disease Transmission......Page 131
The Cultural Ecology of Tick-Borne and Other Transmissible Diseases......Page 146
Regionalization......Page 151
Ecological Complications......Page 153
References......Page 157
Further Reading......Page 158
VIGNETTE 4.1. FIELD MAPPING FOR LANDSCAPE EPIDEMIOLOGY......Page 160
5. Transitions and Development......Page 164
Ecologies of Population Change: Multiple Transitions......Page 165
Major Impacts of Population Change......Page 177
Nutrition in Transition......Page 180
The Mobility Transition and Time–Space Geography......Page 183
Disease Ecologies of the Agricultural Frontier......Page 188
Other Development Impacts on Rural Ecologies......Page 195
World Urbanization and Changing Disease Ecologies......Page 199
Globalization of Movements......Page 207
Conclusion: Emerging Diseases in Your Future......Page 210
References......Page 211
Further Reading......Page 214
VIGNETTE 5.1. AGE STANDARDIZATION......Page 216
VIGNETTE 5.2. MICROSPATIAL EXPOSURE ANALYSIS......Page 219
6. Climate and Weather: Influences on Health......Page 222
Direct Biometeorological Influences......Page 224
The Influences of the Weather......Page 230
Seasonality of Death and Birth......Page 236
How Climate Change Is Likely to Affect Health and Disease......Page 242
Conclusion......Page 247
References......Page 249
VIGNETTE 6.1. MONTHLY INDEXES......Page 251
VIGNETTE 6.2. SEASONALITY OF BIRTH......Page 253
VIGNETTE 6.3. PHYSICAL ZONATION OF CLIMATES AND BIOMES......Page 259
7. The Pollution Syndrome......Page 262
Toxic Hazards of Natural and Economic Origins......Page 263
Outdoor Air Pollution......Page 264
Indoor Air Pollution......Page 274
Water Pollution......Page 275
Radioactive Pollution......Page 280
Risk Assessment and Prevention......Page 286
Globalization and the Perception of Health Hazards......Page 287
The Geometry of Hazards, Power, and Policy......Page 289
References......Page 291
Further Reading......Page 294
8. Political Ecology of Noncommunicable Diseases......Page 296
The Dimension of Mortality......Page 298
The Poverty Syndrome......Page 303
Race in the Study of Health Risks......Page 307
Gender: Women’s Health......Page 309
Causal Reasoning and Epidemiological Design......Page 315
Disease Ecology: Cancer......Page 319
Disease Ecology: Cardiovascular Disease......Page 329
Unknown Etiology and Other Questions......Page 340
The Precautionary Principle and Some Political Ecology of Research......Page 344
Conclusion......Page 348
References......Page 349
Further Reading......Page 352
The Concept of Neighborhood Health......Page 354
Neighborhood Definition and Units......Page 356
Analyzing Neighborhood Effects on Health......Page 360
Effects of the Built Environment on Health......Page 361
The Challenges of Neighborhood Health Studies......Page 362
References......Page 363
Further Reading......Page 365
10. Disease Diffusion in Space......Page 366
Terminology......Page 367
Disease Diffusion......Page 373
Modeling Disease Diffusion......Page 374
Influenzas......Page 390
Geographic Approaches to the Pandemic of AIDS......Page 395
References......Page 413
Further Reading......Page 417
VIGNETTE 10.1. DIFFUSION WAVES OR STOCHASTIC SIMULATION OF INDIVIDUAL CONTACT?......Page 418
11. Health Care and Promotion......Page 422
Asclepius: Provision of Medical Care......Page 424
Asclepius Unrobed: Cultural Alternatives and Perceptions......Page 446
Hygeia: Health Promotion......Page 457
References......Page 459
Further Reading......Page 462
VIGNETTE 11.1. APPLICATION OF SPATIAL STATISTICS TO HEALTH CARE DELIVERY......Page 463
12. Scale, Spatial Analysis, and Geographic Visualization......Page 468
The Ecological Fallacy......Page 469
Scale of Analysis and Units of Observation......Page 470
Sources for Spatial Disease Data......Page 473
Visualizing and Summarizing Disease Distributions......Page 474
Spatial Analysis......Page 478
Spatial Statistics......Page 481
References......Page 483
Further Reading......Page 484
VIGNETTE 12.1. CHI-SQUARE STATISTICAL TEST......Page 486
VIGNETTE 12.2. REGRESSION ANALYSIS......Page 489
VIGNETTE 12.3. SPATIAL AUTOCORRELATION......Page 494
13. Concluding Words......Page 498
Index......Page 501
About the Authors......Page 513