Health and Medical Geography

Why are rainfall, carcinogens, and primary care physicians distributed unevenly over space? The fourth edition of the leading text in the field has been updated and reorganized to cover the latest developments in disease ecology and health promotion across the globe. The book accessibly introduces the core questions and perspectives of health and medical geography and presents cutting-edge techniques of mapping and spatial analysis. It explores the intersecting genetic, ecological, behavioral, cultural, and socioeconomic processes that underlie patterns of health and disease in particular places, including how new diseases and epidemics emerge. Geographic dimensions of health care access and service provision are addressed. More than 100 figures include 16 color plates; most are available as PowerPoint slides at the companion website.
 
New to This Edition:
*Chapters on the political ecology of health; emerging infectious diseases and landscape genetics; food, diet, and nutrition; and urban health.
*Coverage of Middle East respiratory syndrome, Ebola, and Zika; impacts on health of global climate change; contaminated water crises in economically developed countries, including in Flint, Michigan; China's rapid industrial growth; and other timely topics.
*Updated throughout with current data and concepts plus advances in GIS.
 
Pedagogical Features:
*End-of-chapter review questions and suggestions for further reading.
*Section Introductions that describe each chapter.
*"Quick Reviews"--within-chapter recaps of key concepts.
*Bold-faced key terms and an end-of-book glossary.
 

Michael Emch, PhD, is Professor and Chair of Geography at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). He is also Professor of Epidemiology at UNC, a Fellow of the Carolina Population Center, and Director of the Spatial Health Research Group. Dr. Emch has published widely in the subfield of disease ecology, primarily on infectious diseases of the tropical world. He is an associate editor of Health & Place and an advisory editor for the international journal Social Science and Medicine.
 
Elisabeth Dowling Root, PhD, is Associate Professor of Geography at The Ohio State University. She is also Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health and a research affiliate at the Institute for Population Research. Dr. Root's work evaluates the short- and long-term impacts of public health interventions--including vaccination campaigns, maternal and child health and family planning programs, and health systems changes--in low-income countries. She is also interested in the long-term effects of neighborhood social and structural environments on child and adolescent health.
 
Margaret Carrel, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Geographical and Sustainability Sciences at the University of Iowa. She is also Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in the College of Public Health. Dr. Carrel focuses primarily on the geography of infectious disease, with emphasis on how human-environment interactions influence the evolution of pathogens. She is also interested in understanding the impact of food production, particularly of livestock, on human health.