Presenting health and medical geography: People, places, and change

Abstract

Assessments of the development of geography as a discipline, and studies of sub‐disciplinary development within geography, have generally focused on the subject matter under study. Consideration has concentrated on topics, theories, methods, and paradigm shifts identified by analyses of published literature. There has been rather less interest in the spatialisation of the practice and performance of the discipline by people and institutions (though there have been exceptions) and equally little attention to the evidence provided by geographical conferences. We address these lacunae in current knowledge through a quantitative study of changing disciplinary endeavour in health geography as evidenced by participation in the International Medical Geography Symposia. For 35 years this biennial meeting has been the flagship conference for health and medical geographers. We have obtained, reviewed, and coded the proceedings of all 17 symposia, analysing the submitted papers by location of symposia, lead authorship, affiliation, and country of authorship. We investigate the globalisation of the sub‐discipline and changes in key institutional involvement. Novel network analysis methods are used to identify changing linkages between research centres. What emerges is a complex sub‐discipline driven by the changing neoliberal context of higher education and marked by both continuities and discontinuities in its practitioner networks.

Exploring the impact of depopulation on a country's population geography: Lessons learned from Japan

“…Furthermore, most of their achievements have been published by overseas English‐language journals in social epidemiology and public health as joint papers with experts in such fields. Probably due to this manner of publication, mainstream experts in medical and health geography (e.g., Moon & Sabel, 2019; Rosenberg, 2016) might have tended to overlook previous investigations of this topic conducted in Japan.…”

Progress Towards Using Linked Population-Based Data For Geohealth Research: Comparisons Of Aotearoa New Zealand And The United Kingdom

“…The interconnectedness of risk factors has led to an increased recognition of the need for cross-disciplinary approaches to address public health problems. Health geography is concerned with the spatial relationship between hazardous or healthy features and the incidence of disease or ill-health whilst considering social, cultural and political influences (Moon & Sabel, 2019 ). A hazardous feature may either encourage an unhealthy behaviour or represent a harmful exposure, and conversely a health-promoting feature may encourage a beneficial behaviour or afford protection (Green et al, 2018 ).…”

“East” in Europe—Health Dimension through the Lens of the UK Daily Mail and Statistical Facts

“…Health must always be considered in a geopolitical context [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. First, the geographical conditions determine the emergence and spread of specific pathogens causing infectious diseases, followed by lifestyle and diverse socio-economic conditions that have particular importance in preventing and reducing the effects of infectious and non-infectious diseases [ 13 ].…”