COURSE OUTLINE:
INTRODUCTION TO MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY– GEOG 106b
Instructor: Isaac Luginaah Email:
Office: Rm. 1409 SSC Phone: 86944
Office Hours: Mon. 10.00-12.00 or by appointment
Class Times: Mon, Wed, Thurs: 9-10 am
Class Room: Mon/Wed: 3014; THURS: 2110
T.A: Martin Holmes
Final Exam: TBA
Course Description
This course introduces students to the current issues in health geography. Through case studies, students will learn the important role of geography in explaining patterns of diseases, health inequalities, health care provision and variations in health care systems across the world. Emphasis will be placed on the health of Canadians.
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the course, the students are expected to be able to:
· Understand how to read health research critically
· Describe the geographical aspects of disease ecology.
· Describe world-wide shifts in patterns of morbidity and mortality, and to describe the health status of (sub-) populations.
· Understand the reasons for the spreading, emergence and re-emergence of infectious diseases
· Understand the geography of chronic diseases
· Explain the major determinants of health around the world and in Canada.
Course Structure
1. Reading Health Research Critically
2. Data Sources and Methods
3. Disease Ecology
4. Health Transitions
5. Geography of Infectious and Communicable Diseases
6. Geography and Chronic Diseases
7. Population, Environment and Health
Evaluation
Assignment 1 15%
Assignment 2 20%
Midterm 25 %
Final Exam 40 %
Reading Material
· Text: None
· Readings: See list below
· Please check the lecture schedule to find out what is to be read prior to each class (i.e., the
readings are the basis for in-class discussion)
· Call numbers to Text books are provided
· Readings marked Online can also be access from the Western Libraries – Electronic Journals site
· Refer to the critical appraisal form to help you critically assess individual papers
Course Timetable
1 / Jan 3 / Introduction / May, 1950
Jan 5 / Medical Geography / Meade & Earickson, 2000 Chapter 1
Jan 6 / Reading Health Research Critically / DCEBMU 1981
2 / Jan 10 / Reading Health Research Critically / Frank et al., 1987
Jan 12 / Data Sources and Methods / Gatrell 2002 - Chapter 3
Jan 13 / Data Sources and Methods / Statistics Canada, 2000
3 / Jan 17 / Data Sources and Methods / McGrew & Monroe, Chapter 2
Jan 19 / Disease Ecology / Pyle, 1979; Cliff & Hagget, 1986
Jan 20 / Disease Ecology / Hagget, 1998 – Chapter 1
4 / Jan 24 / Disease Ecology / Collins, 1998 Chapter 1
Jan 26 / Health Transition / Omran, 1971
Jan 27 / Health Transition / Wilkinson, 1994; Heuveline et al., 2002
5 / Jan 31 / Health Transition / Martens, 2002
Feb 2 / Infectious/Communicable Diseases I / Mayer, 2000; DaSilva & Iaccarino, 1999
Feb 3 / Infectious/Communicable Diseases II / UNAIDS, 2004 – Chapters 1 and 2
6 / Feb 7 / Infectious/Communicable Diseases III / Shannon, Pyle & Bashshur, 1991 – Chpater 8
Feb 9 / Geography of Chronic Diseases / Doll and Peto, 1981
Feb 10 / Geography of Chronic Diseases
Assignment 1 Due / Baker & Martyn, 1992
7 / Feb 14 / Geography of Chronic Diseases / Gao et al., 1997; Ineichen, 1998
Feb 16 / Geography of Chronic Diseases / Garvin et al., 2004
Feb 17 / Midterm
8 / Conference Week
9 / Feb 28 / Health Inequalities / Rapheal, 2003; Ben-Shlomo & Davey-Smith, 1997
Mar 2 / Health Inequalities / Howe, 1986
Mar 3 / Health Inequalities / Ross et al., 2000
10 / Mar 7 / Gender and Health / Matthews et al., 1999; McDonough & Walters, 2001
Mar 9 / Gender and Health / Vlassoff & Moreno, 2002
Mar 10 / Mental Health / Dear & Wolch, 1987 –Chapter 3
11 / Mar 14 / Mental Health / Giggs, 1988
Mar 16 / Mental Health / Knowles, 2000; Taylor, 1988
Mar 17 / Environment / Gatrell, 2002 – Chapter 7
12 / Mar 21 / Environment / Gatrell, 2002 – Chapter 8
Mar 23 / Occupational Health / Verma, 1996
Mar 24 / Occupational Health / Guest Speaker
13 / Mar 28 / Geographical Perspectives on Health Care / Joseph & Philips, Chapter 1
Mar 30 / Geographical Perspectives on Health Care / Joseph & Philips, Chapter 2
Mar 31 / Health Care Systems / Kluge, 1999
14 / Apr 3 / Health Care Planning / Clarke, 2004 – Chapter 4
Apr 5 / Health Care Planning / Loewy, 1998
Apr 6 / Review, Assignment 2 Due
Reading List
Introduction
May, J. M. (1950) Medical Geography: its methods and objectives. Geographical Review, 40: 10-41.
Meade, M. S. & Earickson, R. J. (2000) Medical Geography. New York. Guilford. Chapter 1
Call #: RA 792.M424 2000 DBW
Reading Health Research Critically
Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University (DCEBMU) (1981). How to read clinical journals: IV to determine etiology or causation. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 124: 985-990.
Frank, J. W., Gibson, B. et al. (1987) Information needs in epidemiology: detecting the health effects of environmental chemical exposure. Toronto, Institute for Environmental Studies. University of Toronto.
Methods in Medical Geography
Gatrell, A. C. (2002) Geographies of Health – An Introduction. London: Blackwell (Chapter 3)
Statistics Canada (2000) Definitions and Data Sources. Online:
http://www.statscan.ca/english/freepub/82-221-XIE/defin.htm
McGrew J. C. and Monroe C. B. (2000) An introduction to statistical problem solving in geography (2nd Ed). New York: McGraw Hill. (Chapter 2) G70.3.M4 2000 DBW
Disease Ecology
Pyle G. F. (1979) Applied Medical Geography. Washington, D.C. Winston & Sons, (Chapter 2)
Call #: RA 792.P94 1979 DBW
Cliff, A. and Hagget, P. (1986) Disease diffusion. In Pacione, M. (ed.) Medical Geography: Progress and Prospect. London. Croom Helm. Call #: RA 792.M43 1986 DBW
Hagget, P. (1998) The Geographical Structure of Epidemics. Clarendon. Oxford. Chapter 1
Call #: RA 792.5.H34 2000 DBW
Collins, A. E. (1998) Environment, health and population displacement : development and change in Mozambique's diarrhoeal disease ecology. Brookfield. Ashgate. Chapter 1
Call #: WC100.C712e 1998 TAY
Health Transitions
Omran, A. R. (1971) The Epidemiologic Transition: A Theory of the Epidemiology of Population Change. The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly, 49(4): 509-538. http://www.scielosp.org/pdf/bwho/v79n2/v79n2a11.pdf
Wilkinson, R. G. (1994) The epidemiological transition: From material scarcity to social disadvantage. Daedalus, 123(4): 61-78. Online
Heuveline, P, Guillot, M. and Gwatkin, D.R. (2002) The uneven tides of the health transition. Social Science & Medicine, 55, 313-322. Online
Marten, P. (2002) Health transitions in a globalising world: towards a more disease or sustained health? Futures, 34: 635-648. Online
Geography of Infectious/Communicable Diseases
Mayer, J. D. (2000) Geography, ecology and emerging infectious diseases. Social Science & Medicine, 50: 937-952. Online
DaSilva, E. & Iaccarino, M (1999) Emerging diseases: a global threat. Biotechnology Advances 17: 363–384. Online
UNAIDS (2004) Report on the global AIDS epidemic. 4th Global Report. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. UNAIDS. http://www.unaids.org/bangkok2004/GAR2004_html/GAR2004_00_en.htm
Shannon, G. W., Pyle, G. F. & Bashshur, R. L. (1991) The Geography of AIDS: Origins and Course of an Epidemic. Guilford. New York. Chapter 8.
Geography of Chronic Diseases
Doll, R. and Peto, R. (1981) The Causes of Cancer. Oxford University Press.
Call #: QZ202.D665C 1981 TAY
Baker, D. J. P. and Martyn, C. N. (1992) The maternal and fetal origins of cardiovascular disease. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 46(1): 8-11. Call #: W1.J0644FA 1992 TAY
Gao et al. (1997) Incidence and mortality of neuroblastoma in Canada compared with other childhood cancers Cancer Causes and Control, 8: 745-754. Online
Ineichen, B. (1998) The geography of dementia: an approach through epidemiology. Health & Place, 4(4): 383-394. Online
Garvin et al. (2004) The geography of complementary medicine: perspectives and prospects. Complementary Therapies in Nursing & Midwifery. 10, 175–185. Online
Population Health
Health inequalities
Ben-Shlomo, Y. & Davey-Smith, G. (1997) Inequalities in health: reasons and possible solutions. Journal of Health Gain, 2, 4-8.
Rapheal, D. (2003) Barriers to addressing the societal determinants of health: public health units and poverty in Ontario, Canada. Health Promotion International, 18(4): 397-405. Online
Howe, G.M. (1986) Does it matter where I live? Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 11(4), 387-414. Online
Ross, N.A., Wolfson, M.W., Dunn, J.R., Berthelot, J-M., Kaplan, G., and Lynch, J.W. (2000). Income inequality and mortality in Canada and the United States. British Medical Journal, 320(7239): 898-902. Online
Gender and Health
Matthews, S., Manor, O., Power, C. (1999) Social inequalities in health: are there gender differences? Social Science & Medicine, 48: 49-60. Online
McDonough, P. & Walters, V. (2001) Gender and health: reassessing patterns and explanations. . Social Science & Medicine, 52: 547-559. Online
Vlassoff, C. & Moreno, C. G. (2002) Placing gender at the center of health programming: challenges and limitations. Social Science & Medicine, 54: 1713-1723. Online
Mental Health
Dear, M. J. & Wolch, J. (1987) Landscapes of Despair: From Deinstitutionalization to Homelessness. Cambridge: Polity. Chapter 3. Call #: HV4028.D43 1987 DBW
Giggs, J. (1988) The spatial ecology of mental illness.In Smith, C. and Giggs, J. (Eds.) Location and Stigma. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 103-33. Call #: RA970.5.L6 1988 DBW
Knowles, C. (2000) Burger King, Dunkin Donuts and community mental health care. Health and Place, 6(3): 213-224. Online
Taylor. S.M. (1988) Community reactions to deinstitutionalization. In Smith, C. and Giggs, J. (Eds.) Location and Stigma. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 224-246. Call #: RA970.5.L6 1988 DBW
Environment and Occupational Health
Gatrell, A. C. (2002) Geographies of Health – An Introduction. London: Blackwell (Chapters 7 and 8)
Verma, D. K. (1996) Occupational Health and Safety Initiatives and Trends in Canada, in Particular in Ontario. The Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 40(4): 477-485. Online
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Health Care Systems & Planning
Kluge, E-H. W. (1999) The Canadian Health Care System: An Analytical Perspective. Health Care Analysis, 7: 377–391. Online
Clarke, J. N. (2004) Health, Illness and Medicine in Canada. (4rd Edition) Toronto: Oxford University Press. (Chapter 4).
Loewy E. H. (1998) Justice and Health Care Systems: What Would an Ideal Health Care System Look Like? Health Care Analysis, 6: 185–192. Online
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