Health Geography GEG/ENV 3303 Course Overview

Course Overview

• The course is titled GEG/ENV 3303 - Health Geography.
• The professor for the is Aisha Giwa.
• Kruti Mehta is the Teaching Assistant.
• Begins January 6th, 2025.

Indigenous Affirmation

• Acknowledges the Algonquin people as the traditional guardians of the land.
• Recognizes the longstanding relationship with the unceded territory.
• It pays respect to all Indigenous people across Canada who call Ottawa home.
• Honors traditional knowledge keepers, both young and old, and courageous leaders, past, present, and future.

Course Outline

• The course will cover an introduction to Health Geography and the concepts of health.
• The course also covers geographical concepts.
• Learning outcomes and assessment strategies are included in the curriculum.

House Keeping

• Being respectful of shared spaces is expected.
• Electronic devices should be silenced or set to "Do Not Disturb."
• Attendance isn't mandatory, but punctuality and remaining for the session are expected.
• Students who need leave early should sit at the edge to avoid disruption.
• Students are encouraged to engage with each other in group discussions.

Course Learning Outcomes

• Students will understand different social science and biomedical models of health.
• Students will learn theoretical approaches used in health geography.
• Understand the roles of social, economic, environmental, and healthcare factors in determining health.
• Focus on the changing global context of health.
• Focus on patterns and trends in health care delivery.
• The course covers factors impacting healthcare access and health outcomes across populations.

Required Materials

• The professor will provide all learning resources via Brightspace in weekly lecture folders.
• Students are not required to purchase textbooks or extra materials.
• Always refer to the syllabus.

Assessment Strategy

• Research Assignment: Paper due February 10, 2025, worth 15%.
• Mid-term Quiz: Mix of multiple-choice, true/false, and short answer questions, March 12, 2025, worth 20%.
• Research Assignment and Group Project: Paper, videos, and group presentation, March 31, 2025, worth 25%.
• Final Exam: In-person written exam, date TBD, worth 40%.

Health Geography Definition

• Focuses on interaction between people and their environment.
• Geography and health are intrinsically linked.
• Encompasses impacts of society and space.
• Addresses the roles of place, location, and geography for health, well-being, and disease.

Health and Location

• Location is key
• Open air defecation in places like India and Pakistan are linked to health risks.
• Proximity to hazardous waste sites can elevate risks for people.
• An example is the Flint Water Crisis in Detroit, Michigan.
• Location impacts the treatment.
• Location impacts disease and illness.

Place and Life Expectancy

• Life expectancy is the average period that a person is expected to live.
• There are alarming disparities in life expectancy depending on location.

Concepts of Health – World Health Organization (WHO)

• Health defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
• Focus shifts from a complete state to the availability of resources for achieving individual potential.
• Social well-being is an important aspect of health that may be overlooked.

Concepts of Health – Illness vs. Disease

• Illness is a subjective experience, while diseases are objective, diagnosed, and treated by doctors.
• Diseases are abnormalities in body organs and systems.
• Epidemiology is the population study of disease.
• Health data collected on mortality and morbidity.

Concepts of Health – Rates

• Age-standardized rates compare populations by accounting for age structure differences.
• Incidence rates measures the number of new cases in a specific period.
• Prevalence rates measures the total number of people with a disease at a specific time.
• In 2022, there were 1,833 new HIV diagnoses which is an increase since 2021.
• At the end of 2023, an estimated 39.9 million people were living with HIV.

Concepts of Health – Chronic vs Acute

• Chronic diseases are long-term, exemplified by heart disease from substance use.
• Acute diseases are short-term, such as overdose from substance use.
• Infections diseases includes measles, influenza, and tuberculosis
• COVID-19 is an infectious disease that can spread from one person to another.
• Impairment refers to physical or mental dysfunction.
• Disability is a socially or culturally constructed exclusion.

Geographical Concepts – Location and Place

• Location is a fixed point, such as 45°25'24.0"N 75°41'08.7"W.
• Place is the meaning or emotion attached to a location.
• Therapeutic landscapes involves culturally specific dimensions meanings of place and health that tend to be overlooked.

Geographical Concepts - Distance

• Measuring distance involves the location of healthcare facilities and possible sources of pollution.
• It involves transmission of disease through social distancing.
• For COVID-19, maintain a safe zone of 2 meters or 6 feet.
• Considers spatial separation in travel time, cost and peoples estimates of such separation.
• Distance involves social factors like class, income, race, etc.

Geographical Concepts - Scale

• Scale can range from small (neighborhoods) to very large (global - e.g. e-coli).
• E.g. the CFIA issued food recall warnings for Original Kimchi with best before dates of January 23, 2022 and January 29, 2022.
• Distribution of product in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba.
• Time scale matter, also
• Environment matters (e.g. closing the Rideau Canal for winter activities in 2023).
• Disease Ecology involves disease distribution as related to local and regional ecologies and the relationship to climate, water, soils, and animals, etc.

Group Exercise

• Consider culture-specific and social practices and their influence on health.

Health concepts summary

• Key terms of health: Illness, Disease, Morbidity, Mortality, and Epidemiology
• Considerations around those key terms: Chronic and Acute Diseases, Infectious Diseases, Prevalence, and Incidence rates.
• Considerations around the person: Age-standardized, Impairment and Disability.

Geographical Concepts

• Considerations around those concepts: Location, Place, and Time.
• Discussion points include: Longitudinal studies and Spatial scale [Tsunami 2004].
• Additional discussion points include: Distance, Therapeutic landscapes, and Scale.

Geographical Concepts Discussion

• Focuses on Physical, Human (built), and Interactions.
• Considerations include: Where, What, Why and When.

Mapping Disease - John Snow

• Dr. Snow established importance of data collection and hypothesis testing.
• He influenced modern public health interventions and policies.
• In 1854 in London water source linked to cholera epidemics.
• Investigations lead to source being the Broad Street pump and the removal of the handle.

Geographic Health Inequities

• Disparities in health outcomes, healthcare access, and determinants is based on geographic location.
• Reducing health inequities improves overall societal well-being.
• Enhancing healthcare planning and resource allocation is vital.
• Addresses systemic issues tied to location-based health outcomes.

Health Equity

• Defined as absence of unjust, and avoidable differences quality in health care.
• Measuring health inequalities allows us to identify differences that can be acted on towards achieving equity.
• Goals from Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Canada are applied towards equity to health..

Health, population and status

• Disparity - difference in health status rates between populations?
• Inequity - disparity due to social, economic, environmental, or healthcare resources.
• Inequalities - the variation of the amounts due to resource.
• Identify who is affected based on the population.

Health Equity

• Equity can be identified by: Age, Gender, Sex, Income, Education and location.

Concepts

• Disease (Objective changes).
• Scientific study focuses on the organ systems.

Health and Behavior

• Illness Behavior is an activity undertaken for the purpose of defining and finding a remedy for a problem.

Illness Behavior depends on

• Health Literacy
• Cost,
• Referrals/Networks
• Cultural Variation.

Themes

• Assignement/Evaluation was broken down
• Definitions of Health are defined
• Human experience
• Approaches to Health is classified.

Evaluation

• The assignment due date is Feb 10
• If life concerns arises, connect with professor or TA within 3 days.

Germ theory origins

• Germ Theory of Disease was a popular concept around 19th Century.

Germ Theory highlights

• One disease has one agent.
• Louis and Robert Koch helped discover it which led to the discovery that germs invade the body
• Emphasized microorganism

Disease must be multifactorial

• Epidemiological Triangle
• Multifactorial
• Host and environment
• Control of disease requires considering environmental and host.

PHP

• Population Health (PHP) is studies
• Helps extend determinants of health.

Three categories of traditional medicine

• Broad Categories: Downstream, Midstream and Upstream.
• Action can be done through: Primary Care, address individual conditions and improve the conditions

HBM

• Health education +
• Social Influencer

Limitations

• The data does not take personal factors
• HBM

Factors of Behavior

• Includes enabling, predisposing and reinforcing

Health vs Public

• Public Policy

Community

• mobilization
• Health is most effective in that domain.

Strategies of the field

• Health sector priorities
• Investment.

Shanghai Declaration details

• A vision to focus on the set ideas
• Social
• Infrastructure

Epistemology

• Study of knowledge is a central domain.
• Axiology is the analysis in health field.

Framework structure

• The research domain
• A research must be in accurate, tested fashion.

Data is essential

• There should be Primary data
• Secondary Data

Positvist

• Objective _ It has spatial ording
• Factors of setting Planning Lack detail.

AIDS

• Major urban areas and a virus.

Aids Transmission

• Major cities
• Hierarichal
• Lack detail.

Substance Abuse

• Ongoing stat tracking
• Lacks prospective of folks with experience.

Interaction

• People

Factors of interaction

• The factors are
• Interviews
• position.

Community Planning - Smoke

• Understand environments
• Localities in environment.

The health legislation

• It has a study and the findings.

SDH

• WHO and The well being

WHO focus

• Fundamental drivers

Influence

• It has upstream and downward Interventions have positive impacts.

Aspects of society

• The distribution must be economic and social resources.

Time of politics

• Politics and government are always influencing.

Politics -Engels

• England
  • Sanitary
  • Class

###Virchow

• Public policy that influences disease.

Canadian Policies.

• Canada - Public vs Social.

Canadian Framework

• Access

Equity

• Income and Gender issues.

Criteria

• The information of determinants.

Models in community

• The access is determined with geography.

• Empherical info and pathways.
• Determinats info.
• Policy Enviro influence.
• Social infleuence.