Geographies of Health: An Introduction

Setting out the debates and reviewing the evidence that links health outcomes with social and physical environments, this new edition of the well-established text offers an accessible overview of the theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and research in the field of health geography Includes international examples, drawn from a broad range of countries, and extensive illustrations Unique in its approach to health geography, as opposed to medical geography New chapters focus on contemporary concerns including neighborhoods and health, ageing, and emerging infectious disease Offers five new case studies and an fresh emphasis on qualitative research approaches Written by two of the leading health geographers in the world, each with extensive experience in research and policy

Table of Contents:
List of Figures ix List of Tables xii Preface xiv Part I Describing and Explaining Health in Geographical Settings 1 Chapter 1 Introducing Geographies of Health 3 Health and Geography: Some Fundamental Concepts 6 Concepts of health 7 Geographical concepts 10 Geographies of Health: Five Case Studies 15 Neighborhoods and obesity in New York City 16 Public places after the introduction of “smoke free” legislation 18 The health of Aboriginal populations in Canada 19 Habitus and heart health: The collision of place, body, and health 21 Mental health in Australian immigration detention centers 23 Concluding Remarks 25 Chapter 2 Explaining Geographies of Health 29 Positivist Approaches to the Geography of Health 30 Positivist explanation 30 Further examples of positivist approaches 31 Social Interactionist Approaches to the Geography of Health 37 Social interactionist explanation 38 Further examples of social interactionist approaches 39 Structuralist Approaches to the Geography of Health 41 Structuralist explanation 42 Further examples of structuralist or conflict-based approaches 43 Structurationist Approaches to the Geography of Health 50 Structurationist explanation 50 Further examples of structurationist approaches 52 Post-structuralist Approaches to the Geography of Health 53 Post-structuralist explanation 54 Further examples of post-structuralist approaches 54 Concluding Remarks 59 Chapter 3 Quantitative Methods and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) 65 Visualizing and Exploring Health Data in a Spatial Context 66 Modeling Health Data in a Spatial Setting 78 Geographical Information Systems and Health 86 Concluding Remarks 96 Chapter 4 Qualitative Approaches to Interpreting the Geography of Health 101 Interviews 102 Focus Groups 110 Other Qualitative Methods 112 Qualitative Data Analysis 113 Rigor in Qualitative Research 116 Concluding Remarks 117 Part II Health and the Social Environment 123 Chapter 5 Health Inequalities I: Global Patterns and Regional Contrasts 125 Health Inequalities in the Global South 126 Health inequalities: Africa 130 Health inequalities: The BRIC countries 132 Health Inequalities in the Global North 139 Regional divides in the global north 139 Explaining inequalities in health outcomes in the global north 145 Concluding Remarks 152 Chapter 6 Health Inequalities II: Neighborhoods and Health 157 A Chicago Story 159 Neighborhood Context or Social Composition? 161 The Obesogenic Neighborhood 163 Psychosocial Health and Well-being 167 Housing and Health 169 Infectious Disease 170 Neighborhoods and Access to Care 174 Concluding Remarks 178 Chapter 7 Systems of Health Care 184 Principles of Health Service Delivery 185 Levels and types of health care provision 185 Promoting health, preventing illness 186 Health Care Systems 190 Geographies of rationing 192 Efficiency and equity 193 The need for health care 195 Inequalities in the Provision of Health Services 196 Health care provision in the global south 196 Health care provision in the global north 202 Geographies of Care 205 Concluding Remarks 208 Chapter 8 Inequalities in the Utilization of Health Services 214 Use of Primary Health Care Services 215 Use of Secondary and Tertiary Health Care Services 226 Do Provision and Utilization Affect Outcome? 231 Concluding Remarks 238 Chapter 9 Ageing and Place 244 What is Age? 245 Ageing Populations: Global and Regional Perspectives 246 The Distribution of Ill-Health and Disability Among Older Adults 249 Health Inequalities in Older Adults 254 Healthy Ageing “In Place” 258 There’s No Place Like Home 264 Concluding Remarks 268 Chapter 10 People on the Move: Migration and Health 273 Migration, Disruption, and Health 274 Voluntary migration and mental health 274 Forced displacement 276 The Impact of Migration on the Spread of Disease 280 Migration and the Incidence of Disease and Ill-health 283 Direct effects 283 Longer-term health impacts of migration 285 Migration as a confounding variable 290 Impact of Health Status on Migration 295 The Relationship Between Migration and Access to Health Services 298 Concluding Remarks 301 Part III Health and Human Modification of the Environment 307 Chapter 11 On Airs, Waters, Places 309 Air 311 Area sources 314 Linear sources 320 Point sources 324 Water 329 Cholera 331 Schistosomiasis 334 Gastroenteritis 335 Chemicals in drinking water 337 Concluding Remarks 342 Chapter 12 Health Impacts of Global Environmental Change 349 Stratospheric Ozone Depletion 352 The Science of Climate Change and Its Role in Human Health 356 Health Impacts of Climate Change 358 Air quality 360 Contamination of food and water 360 Temperature extremes 363 Extreme weather events and natural hazards 364 Impacts on infectious vector-borne disease 367 Concluding Remarks 370 Chapter 13 Emerging, Re-emerging, and Neglected Infectious Diseases 375 Disease Transmission: The Role of Vectors 376 The Drivers of Emerging, Re-emerging, and Neglected Diseases 378 Ecosystem change 378 Political upheaval, conflict, and disaster 382 Mobilities of people and goods 385 Antimicrobial resistance 387 Socioeconomic determinants and consequences 388 Concluding Remarks 391 Index 395

About the Author :
Anthony C. Gatrell is Professor of the Geography of Health at Lancaster University. His research interests include applications of spatial analysis and GIS in health and medicine, health inequalities, and associations between mobility and health. He is the author of Distance and Space: A Geographical Perspective (1983), Interactive Spatial Data Analysis (with Trevor Bailey, 1995), GIS and Health (edited with Markku Löytönen, 1998), and Geographies of Health, second edition (Blackwell, 2011). Susan J. Elliott is the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, Canada where she is actively involved in research related to integrated knowledge translation in the area of environment and health research. She has published extensively around relationships between health and the built environment, health and the socially constructed environment, and health and the physical environment. Her research activities span the globe, with current activities related to access to safe water and sanitation in Africa.