1. MEDICAL GEOGRAPHY

3. The Green Revolution: Miracle or Debacle
Ethical problems
Ownership of new genetic “strain”
One-sixth of the Earth’s population is seriously malnourished
Rural areas hardest hit
Male vs. female caloric intake

4. Nutrition and Diet Caloric consumption
Protein and carbohydrates important
Wide variation among the world’s population
“Hidden hunger”
Early protein deficiency leads to damage

5. World Caloric Intake

7. Mitigating the Risks
Ten areas where action should be taken to reduce the likelihood of a food crisis (from UN):
Population
Continue Green Revolution
Expansion of farmlands
Encourage local production
Promote land reform
Enhance food distribution systems
Search for alternative food sources
Better policies for ocean fishing
Reduce meat consumption
Endorse social change

8. The Distribution of Health
Medical geography
Core areas and difussion
Distinct spatial patterns
Contagious diseases
Location of clinics
Transportation routes
Medical imagery technology

9. Infant and Child Mortality
Infant mortality rates (IMR)
Mirrors a society’s health
Mother’s physical health is key
High IMRs can be found in poorer countries
Lacking clean drinking water and/or hygienic human waste-disposal facilities

10. A Rural Community Water Source

11. Infant and Child Mortality
Malnutrition and child mortality
Poorer areas = lower life expectancy
Child mortality rates staggeringly high in much of Africa and Asia
Kwashiorkor
Lack of protein early in life
Marasmus:
Inadequate protein and insufficient calories

12. Infant and Child Mortality

13. Life Expectancy An indicator of a society’s well-being
Regional contrasts
Age contrasts

14. The Distribution of Disease http://www. ted
Medical geography and disease
Major types of diseases
Infectious diseases
Chronic or degenerative diseases
Genetic or inherited diseases
Disease terminology
Epidemic
Pandemic
Endemic

15. Vectored: Malaria www.worldmapper.org

16. The Distribution of Disease
Medical geography and disease
Disease diffusion (infectious diseases)
“Agents” and viruses
Disease reservoirs in hosts
Nonvectored vs. vectored
Disease transmission

17. The Distribution of Disease
Vectored infectious diseases: Malaria

18. The Distribution of Disease www.worldmapper.org
Vectored infectious diseases: Yellow fever

19. The Distribution of Disease
Vectored infectious diseases:
Sleeping sickness (trypanosomaisis)

20. The Distribution of Disease
Vectored infectious diseases: Tropical regions: Schistosomiasis, Onchocerciasis…

21. The Distribution of Disease
Nonvectored infectious diseases: Cholera

23. Dr. Snow & Cholera (1854)

24. http://www. ted. com/talks/lang/eng/steven_johnson_tours_the_ghost_map

27. The Distribution of Disease
Nonvectored infectious diseases: Influenza
1918 “worldwide pandemic” (WP = Bush-ism)
Originally from China

28. Recent outbreaks of flu www.worldmaper.org

29. The Distribution of Disease www.worldmaper.org
AIDS
Identified in 1980s in Africa
> 40 million infected by 2002
Dimensions still uncertain
A blood-borne disease
Africa most affected
Botswana (highest) vs. Uganda (slowed)
Need for development and intervention

30. The Distribution of Disease
Chronic diseases
The leading cause of death in the US
Ever-changing list
Other factors may be affecting our health
New dangers confront children
Lead-based paints
Water “treatments”
Obesity

31. http://urbanhealthupdates. wordpress

32. The Distribution of Disease http://worldfocus
Genetic diseases
Chromosomal mutations or accidents (evolution?)
Some are selective
Metabolic problems
Galactosemia: a primary adult disease
African geophagy
No cattle or milk livestock = galactosemia

33. Epidemiologic Transition Stage
Stage 1: Pestilence and Famine
Deaths by animal attacks
Accidents
Infectious and parasitic diseases

34. Epidemiologic Transition
Stage 2: Stage of receding pandemics.
Improved sanitation
Improved nutrition
Improved medicine during the Industrial Revolution

35. Epidemiologic Transition www.worldmaper.org
Stage 3: Degenerative and human-created diseases, a decrease in deaths from infectious diseases of stage 2.
-heart attacks
-cancer

36. Epidemiologic Transition www.worldmapper.org
Stage 4: Delayed degenerative diseases
Cancer and heart disease still remain but life expectancy is extended through medical advances
Reduced use of tobacco, alcohol and better diet and exercise

37. Epidemiological Transition
Stage 5:
New strains of viruses are bacteria resistant
Poverty prevents paying for medicine
Improved travel: rural residents can go to the urban areas for contagious diffusion
SARS
AIDS
SMALLPOX

39. Resources http://www.ted.org www.worldmapper.org
De Blij, Harm, J. (2010). Human Geography People, Place and Culture. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
Domosh, Mona, Neumann, Roderic, Price, Patricia, & Jordan-Bychkov, The Human Mosaic, A Cultural Approach to Human Geography. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company.
Fellman, Jerome, D., Getis, Arthur, & Getis, Judith, Human Geography, Landscapes of Human Activities. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
Pulsipher, Lydia Mihelic and Alex M. and Pulsipher, World Regional Geography, Global Patterns, Local Lives. W.H. Freeman and Company New York  
Rubenstein, James M. (2011). An introduction to human geography The cultural landscape. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.