Health Geography
According to the World Health Organization
“Better
environmental management could prevent 40% of deaths from
malaria, 41% of deaths from lower respiratory infections, and 94% of deaths
from diarrheal disease.”
This translates to 13 million deaths each year, five million of which
are children. And these threats are
not restricted to developing countries. This same source notes that "In
developed countries, healthier environments could significantly reduce the
incidence of cancers, cardiovascular diseases, asthma, lower respiratory
infections... " Importantly, many environmentally
related deaths and diseases are preventable given the knowledge and resources
needed to effect change.
Geographers at the University of Iowa are actively
engaged in teaching and research that leads to a better understanding of
the complex relationships that exist among health, the environment, development,
ethics, and equity. Students that
study health geography at The University of Iowa have the opportunity to
learn from leading experts with strong ties to key public health agencies
(e.g., The National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention) and other highly ranked programs within The University of
Iowa’s
Recent topics of research in health geography at
·
Advanced techniques for the analysis
of spatio-temporal patterns of health and the environmental factors that
affect health
·
Advanced techniques for the visualization
of spatio-temporal patterns of health and the environmental factors that
affect health.
·
The health effects of concentrated
animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in
·
The relation between air pollution
and health in
·
The relation between cancer and
access to health care in Iowa
As a student
of Health Geography you can, for example, build expertise in:
Decision support for health services
GIS
Public health
Sensors and health monitoring
Spatial and statistics analysis of health patterns
Faculty doing related research include:
