Geography of Health and Well Being

By Dr. Aakriti Grover | Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, New Delhi

Learners enrolled: 254

Health is an interdisciplinary subject having an interface with many subjects such as public health, medical science, geography, anthropology, epidemiology, sociology and management that are widely taught at various universities and institutes across the country. The unique feature of this course is that it binds the approaches of different disciplines and provides a holistic view to the understanding of the geography of health and wellbeing.

The topics covered in the course are:

Basics of health, wellbeing, disease, illness, public health, hygiene, epidemiology, environmental health, sources of health data, measures of health
Nature and scope of geography of health and wellbeing, evolution of health geography, approaches to study health geography
Linkages between health and environment - Driving forces in health and environmental trends - population dynamics, urbanization, poverty and inequality
Pressure on environmental quality and health - Human activities and environmental pressure on land use and agricultural development; industrialization; transport and energy
Exposure and health risks - Concept of exposure, risk and vulnerability, air and water pollution; linkages between household wastes; housing and diseases; workplace / occupational health
Health and disease pattern with special reference to India (Non-communicable; communicable and lifestyle diseases; food and nutrition-related diseases); Geographical and social perspectives to understand pandemic
Climate change and human health - Change in the climate system, Urban Heat Islands, Extreme weather conditions and disasters, Disaster management and human health
Emergence of new diseases and re-emergence of diseases
Role of geospatial technology in overcoming health challenges
Health without borders - Global health; Medical tourism
National and international challenges and initiatives for good health and wellbeing

The course will follow the four-quadrant approach using teaching by the means of lecture, discussion, videos and assignments/quiz. Case studies will give the students clearer understanding of region specific issues, thus, promoting better planning and management. The course will provide insight integrate various approaches to understand health and wellbeing.

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Not Applicable
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Multidisciplinary
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	15 Jul 2024
End Date :	30 Nov 2024
Enrollment Ends :	31 Aug 2024
Exam Date :	07 Dec 2024 IST
Exam Shift :	Shift-II

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

No. of Weeks	List of Text Modules	List of Video Module
WEEK 1	Definitions of key concepts, Nature and scope of Geography of Health and Wellbeing	Understanding the basic concepts related to health and wellbeing, part 1
		Understanding the basic concepts related to health and wellbeing, part 2
		History and evolution of geography of health, approaches and scope
WEEK 2	Evolution of Geography of Health and Medical Geography	Measures of health and wellbeing
		Sources of data
WEEK 3	Approaches to Study of Health	Driving forces in health and environmental trends - population dynamics, part - 1
		Driving forces in health and environmental trends - urbanization, part - 2
		Health-environment-development
WEEK 4	Driving Forces in Health and Environmental Trends	Air pollution and health, part 1
		Air pollution and health, part 2
		Water pollution and its impact on health
WEEK 5	Exposure and Health Risks: Housing, Household Wastes, Water Pollution	Waste disposal, sanitation and its impact on health
		Solid waste management and associated health issues, part - 1
		Solid waste management and associated health issues, part - 2
WEEK 6	Exposure and Health Risks: Air pollution, Workplace / Occupational	Occupational health, part - 1
		Occupational health, part - 2
		Housing and its impact on health
		Food and nutrition-related diseases
WEEK 7	Understanding the Epidemiological Transition of Health	Climate change and human health
		Changes in climate system and health impacts
		Disasters and human health
		Basics of exposure, risk and vulnerability
		Global burden of disease
WEEK 8	Health and Communicable Disease Patterns in Environmental Context with Special Reference to India	Communicable diseases - patterns and trends, part - 1
		Communicable diseases - patterns and trends, part - 2
WEEK 9	Health and Non-Communicable and Lifestyle Diseases Patterns in Environmental Context with Special Reference to India	Non-communicable diseases - patterns and trends, part - 1
		Non-communicable diseases - patterns and trends, part - 2
		Geographical dimensions of the pandemic
		Social dimensions of the pandemic
WEEK 10	The Emergence of New Diseases and the Re-Emergence of Diseases	Emergence of new diseases and the re-emergence of diseases
		Changing risk factors in India
		Risk, exposure and vulnerability mapping for health, part 1
		Risk, exposure and vulnerability mapping for health, part 2
WEEK 11	Climate Change and Human Health: The Global South Perspective	Initiatives at national level
		Initiatives at international level
		Global and regional health challenges
WEEK 12	Role of Geospatial Technology in overcoming Health Challenges	Health without borders, part -1
		Health without borders, part-2
		Role of remote sensing and GIS in understanding pressure on environmental quality and health, part -1
		Role of remote sensing and GIS in understanding pressure on environmental quality and health, part - 2

Books and references

· Anonymous (2017) Nations within a nation: variations in epidemiological transition across the states of India, 1990–2016 in the Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet 390: 2437–60

· Anthamatten P. and Hazen H. (2011) An introduction to the geography of health. Routledge New York ISBN: 978-0-203-87746-3

· Askari Hasan Md and Gupta K. (2016) Conceptualising Medical Geography. Trans.Inst.Indian Geographers 38(1):127-135

· Bircher J. (2005) Towards a dynamic definition of health and disease. Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy 8(3):335-341

· Brown T., McLafferty S., Moon G. (2010) (eds) A companion to health and medical geography. Willey Blackwell UK

· Clemow, F.A. (2011) The Geography of Disease, Cambridge Geographical Series.

· Cliff, A.D. and Peter,H. (1988) Atlas of Disease Distributions, Blackwell Publishers.

· DeAngulo J.M. and Losada L.S. (2015) Health paradigm shifts in the 20^th century. Christian Journal for Global Health 2(1): 49-58

· Gatrell, A. (2002). Geographies of Health: An Introduction Oxford: Blackwells.

· Gatrell, A. and Loytonen, (1998) GIS and Health, Taylor and Francis Ltd.

· Gatzweiler F.W., Zhu Y-G., Diez Roux A.V., Capon A., Donnelly C., Salem G., Ayad H.M., Speizer I., Nath I., Boufford J.I., Hanaki K., Rietveld L.C., Ritchie P., Jayasinghe S., Parnell S., Zhang Y. (2017) Advancing health and wellbeing in the changing urban environment - Implementing a systems approach. Springer China ISBN 978-981-10-3363-6

· Grover, A. and Singh, R.B. (2020) Urban health and wellbeing: Indian case studies, Springer.

· Hancock, T. (1985). The mandala of health: a model of the human ecosystem. Family and communityhealth, 8(3), 1-10.

· Hazen, H and Anthamatten, P.(2020) An Introduction to the Geography of Health, Routledge Publishing

· Kearns R. and Moon G. (2002) From medical to health geography: Novelty, place and theory after a decade of change. Progress in Human Geography25(5):605–625

· McCartney, G.,Popham, F., McMaster, R., and Cumbers, A. (2019). Defining health and healthinequalities. Public health, 172, 22-30.

· Meade, M.S. and Emch, M. (2010) Medical Geography, third edition, Guilford Publications

· Mishra, R.P. (2007) Geography of Health: A Treatise on Geography of Life and Death inIndia, Concept Publication.

· Murray C. and A. Lopez (1996) The Global Burden of Disease, Harvard University Press.

· NITI Aayog (2021) Best Practices Compendium: Urban Transformation Sector. DevelopmentMonitoring and Evaluation Office (DMEO), Government of India

· Phillips, D.andVerhasselt, Y. (1994) Health and Development, Routledge.

· Rajput. S.(2024) Geography of Health, Concept Publications, New Delhi

· Rao, M et al. (2015) Draft National Health Policy 2015, Economic and Political Weekly, vol l, no. 17, 94-101 .

· Rosenberg, M. (2015) Health geography II: ‘Dividing’ health geography. Progress in Human Geography 1-9

· Sen, A. (2002) Why health equity? Health Economics. 11: 659–666

· Singh, R.B. (eds) (2015) Urban Development Challenges, Risks and Resilience in Asian Mega

Cities. Springer

· Tromp, S. (1980) Biometeorology: The Impact of Weather and Climate on Humans and theirEnvironment, Heydon and Son

· Walker, P., and John, M. (2011) Chapter 4: Wellbeing. From public health to wellbeing: The new driverfor policy and action. Bloomsbury Publishing

Instructor bio

Dr. Aakriti Grover

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi, New Delhi

Dr. Aakriti Grover (World Social Science Fellow) is a trained geographer and working as Assistant Professor in the School of Global Affairs at present. Having over a decade of experience in education sector, she has taught at Central University of Tamil Nadu, and various colleges of University of Delhi including Miranda House and Swami Shraddhanand College. Her key areas of research include geography of health and wellbeing, urban environment and disaster management.

She has taught at both postgraduate and undergraduate level. She has supervised two doctoral scholars on topics related to geography of health and wellbeing.

Dr. Grover has two books from Springer Nature to her credit, titled ‘Sustainable Health through Food, Nutrition and, Lifestyle’ and ‘Urban health and wellbeing’. She has widely published research papers (20+) in reputed peer-reviewed national and international journals and edited books.

For academic purposes, she has travelled to France, South Africa, Japan, and Poland. Additionally, she is a member of the Urban Commission within the International Geographical Union, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, NAGI, AGS and many other organisations.

Course certificate

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