डॉ. बी. आर. अम्बेडकर विश्‍वविद्यालय दिल्ली
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi
Established by The Government of NCT of Delhi

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 all these varied varieties of subjects and provides a holistic view to the understanding of the geography of health and wellbeing, especially at this stage when Covid-19 has disrupted human life all across the planet.

The topics to be covered in the course are:

 

1. Basics of health, wellbeing, disease, illness, public health, hygiene, epidemiology, environmental health; nature and scope of Geography of health and wellbeing, evolution of health geography, approaches
2. Linkages between health and environment: driving forces in health and environmental trends - population dynamics, urbanization, poverty and inequality
3. Pressure on environmental quality and health: human activities and environmental pressure on land use and agricultural development; industrialization; transport and energy
4. Exposure and health risks: air pollution; linkages between household wastes, water, housing and diseases; workplace (case study)
5. Health and disease pattern in environmental context with special reference to India, types of diseases, and their regional pattern (communicable and lifestyle diseases, food and nutrition-related diseases)
6. Emergence of new diseases and re-emergence of diseases (zoonotic diseases –case study)
7. Climate change and human health: change in the climate system – heat and cold
8. Role of geospatial technology in overcoming health challenges
9. Health and Happiness
10. National and international initiates 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 insight to region specific issues, thus, promoting better planning and management. The course will provide insight integrate various approaches to understand health and wellbeing.

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

Course layout

Publishing Weeks	Topics
Week 1	Definitions of key concepts, Nature and scope of Geography of Health and Wellbeing
Week 2	Evolution of Geography of Health and Medical Geography
Week 3	Approaches to Study of Health
Week 4	Driving Forces in Health and Environmental  Trends
Week 5	Exposure and Health Risks: Housing, Household Wastes, Water Pollution
Week 6	Exposure and Health Risks: Air pollution, Workplace / Occupational
Week 7	Understanding the Epidemiological Transition of Health
Week 8	Health and Communicable  Disease Patterns in  Environmental  Context  with Special Reference to  India
Week 9	Health and Non-Communicable and Lifestyle Diseases Patterns in  Environmental  Context  with Special Reference to  India
Week 10	The Emergence of New Diseases and the Re-Emergence of Diseases
Week 11	Climate  Change  and  Human  Health
Week 12	Role of Geospatial Technology in overcoming Health Challenges

Books and references

Akhtar, R. and Learmonth, A. (2018) (eds.)Geographical Aspects of Health and Diseases in India, Concept Publishing Company

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., 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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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