Medical
Geography (Health Geographic’s) is the branch of Human Geography that deals
with the geographic aspects of health (status) and healthcare (systems). It
seeks, along with related disciplines such as Medical Anthropology (is the
study of human health and disease, healthcare system and bio cultural adaption),
Medical Sociology (is the study of societal dimension of health and medicine)
and Health Economics (is the branch of economic which concern with connection
between health and the resources needed to promote it), to improve our
understanding of the various factors which affect the health of populations and
hence individuals. In other words, these interrelated disciplines can enhance
the concepts or "models" we have about health and disease, and hence
enhance the final outcomes of healthcare.
The
concept that place and location can influence health is a very old and familiar
idea in medicine. As far back as the time of Hippocrates (c. 3rd century BC),
physicians have observed that certain diseases seem to occur in some places and
not others. Even within the human body, many diseases and organisms are known
to have a predilection for, or to exclusively affect specific body organs or
systems (anatomico-physiological "locations" within the human body).Medical
geography has evolved from a sub-discipline within geography narrowly focused
on the spatial distribution of diseases and medical care resources to a
sub-discipline that has broadened to take into account changing philosophies,
methodologies and topics in geography, medicine and public health as they have
evolved in the latter part of the 20th century and the beginning of
the 21st century. This is due to increasing importance as well as
renewed interests within medical geography in the links between health and the
environment, health and place, and health, health care and public policy in
both developed and developing countries. A third trend is the growing role that
new information technologies are playing in medical geography.
During
its early development as a sub-discipline within geography, medical geography
reflected the dominant theoretical and methodological approaches that existed
across geography at the time: regional geography (is the branch of geography
that studies the world regions); cultural ecology (is the study of human
adaption to social and physical environment); and spatial modeling (refer to
the particular form of disaggretion in which an area is divided in number of
similar unit).
IMPORTANCE
OF MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY
·
It aims to improve the understanding of
the various factors which affect the health of populations and hence individual
People
have also been aware of the process of disease diffusion across geographic
regions. For instance the impact of
some environmental factors on malaria parasite prevalence was investigated in
rural Bolifamba, Cameroon. Perennial transmission of malaria indicates that
model environmental sanitation and housing conditions may be significant risk
factors for malaria parasite burden in Bolifamba.
The study reported here therefore had as the objective to investigate the
effect of entomological and environmental factors on malaria parasite
prevalence and parasite density and provide information that could be used by
the public health sector for improving its malaria control strategy.
·
Medical geography help Geographer to
merges mapping and research to plot the spread of disease.
An outbreak may show up only in
certain cities, or cluster around a source of contaminated water. By tracking
reports of illness, you uncover patterns that help identify the cause of the
virus. Example the outbreak of cholera in Africa countries, through the medical
geography report researcher can uncover the Cholera is caused by a number of types of Vibrio
cholerae, with some types producing more severe disease than others. It is spread mostly by unsafe water and unsafe
food that has been contaminated with human
feces containing the bacteria. Undercooked seafood is a
common source.
Humans are the only animal
affected.
Risk
factors for the disease include poor sanitation,
not enough clean drinking water, and poverty. There
are concerns that rising sea levels will increase rates of disease. Cholera can be diagnosed by a stool test. A rapid dipstick
test is available but is not as accurate. Prevention
involves improved sanitation and access to clean
water.
Cholera
vaccines that are given by mouth provide reasonable protection for about
six months
·
Medical geography help Geographer to
protects international travelers.
Medical
geographer provides evidence advice to travel organizations on common illnesses
in a specific country, and biologist should vaccines a traveler receive before
vacationing there. Geographer aim to find and stomp out disease in all parts of
the world. Example Ebola in West Africa
OUTBREAK OF EBOLA BETWEEN
2014- 2016 IN WEST AFRICA 
·
Helps the geographers to know the source
of diseases,
Example
geographer helps to know the sources of different diseases; in case of East
Africa a disease like malaria is mostly found in coast area due the factor that
the environment that surrounding the area is wet and it influence high breeding
of mosquitoes that can lead to transmitting of malaria through the parasite known
as plasmodium and another disease is Bilharzias enters the body when the larvae
of the fluke, or parasite, pass through the skin. The larvae emerge from
snails, enter the skin when people are in the water, and develop into adult
worms that live in the blood. According to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), more than 200
million people are infected with schistosomiasis, globally.
After malaria,
it is seen as the second most devastating parasitic disease in the world.
·
It helps to know the geographic distribution of diseases conditioned by natural factors,
Including
climate and the
presence or absence of certain chemical elements
in the water and
soil and consequently
in the food products.
Social factors such
as material conditions of life, cultural level
of the population, and traditional diet
also play a decisive
role in the geography
of certain diseases of humans. Also important
in determining the geographic distribution of diseases are factors
that act within
the human body
and arise in the
process of its development.
Medical geography is closely connected with
epidemiology, microbiology, hygiene, and pathology,
as well as physical and economic geography
and especially landscape
geography. It has long been noted that many diseases
of humans are found
only in certain definite
regions of the globe:
for example, yellow
fever occurs in countries
of Africa, also a disease like sleep sickness are mostly found
in area where the is highly large of livestock keeping.
MAP OF TANZANIA
SHOWING THE LOCATION OF DISTRICTS AFFECTED BY SLEEPING SICKNESS INCLUDING
URAMBO DISTRICT
SLEEPING
SICKNESS INCLUDING URAMBO DISTRICT
·
Medical geography play a big
role in supporting public health policy and planning
Geography and health are
intrinsically linked. Where we are born, live, study and work directly
influences our health experiences: the air we breathe, the food we eat, the
viruses we are exposed to and the health services we can access. The social,
built and natural environments affect our health and well-being in ways that
are directly relevant to health policy. Spatial location (the geographic
context of places and the connectedness between places) plays a major role in
shaping environmental risks as well as many other health effects. For example,
locating health care facilities, targeting public health strategies or monitoring
disease outbreaks all have informed decision-making leads to the development of
effective public health policy based on evidence. We need to understand disease
risk factors and how risks such as genetics, lifestyle, environment and
occupation interact with the social, built and natural environments.
Understanding geography, including the arrangement of health services and the
location and nature of environmental exposures, is crucial in assessing the
interrelations inherent in many health-related risk exposures.
·
Increasingly, medical geographers are gaining
applied experience in health and health care in the developing world.
They are obtaining
breadth and depth of knowledge and are now, for example, cogniscant of
financial matters such as those involved in the ‘cost explosion’ in health care
worldwide which has particularly sinister implications for the health of Third
World countries. They, too, are now increasingly comfortable in dealing with
epidemiological and demographic data. Geographers now no longer focus solely on
phenomena such as distance decay or environments for disease. They are aware
that human resources, intelligence, aspirations, attitudes and finance are all
potent variables influencing ‘successful’ health care and health in populations.
In the future, therefore, the wide-ranging ambit of medical geography will
increasingly become relevant to health and health care research in the Third
World.
Contributions of value will emerge both from those geographers adopting
more socio-political stances and those adopting a more empiricist approach.
However, it is the holistic nature of geography, with its wide academic links, and
the courage of geographers to research in new topics and gain sound
understanding of them which will increasingly be recognized. The days of
extempore contributions to political, policy and practical debates on health
and development are now largely past. Well researched, solid and sound medical
geography contributions will, it is hoped, forge ahead.
Therefore
through medical geography people become healthy due to different reports that
provide precaution which guide them to be aware with environment that can cause
health problems such as unsafe water and unsafe food which cause diseases like
cholera. Also it lead the people to select the environment which is free from
living
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