As individuals who live in the USA, we are prepared with the necessary information about infectious diseases, which are a highly important matter for our health. However, as a developed country, we do not have as many disease outbreaks as the developing societies. Geographers and ecologists, have researched interconnection between geography, political economy and cultural ecology, which all relate to one another and therefore, could be described as ‘political ecology’. More specifically, in the article, “The political ecology of disease as one new focus of medical geography” by Jonathan D. Mayer, the author does an exceptional work in recognizing the main factors and how, throughout time, they have evolved into a new idea for the medical geography …show more content…
Mayer notes in his article, the main purpose of political ecology is to “unite cultural ecology, political economy and its associated concepts.” (Mayer, 446). By connecting the interaction between political interest, social institutions and human-environment, we will understand the relationship of these aspects with disease ecology. According to Dr. Mayer, disease ecology is, the understanding how humanity (culture, society and behavior, physical world, topography, vegetation and climate, biology, vector and pathogen ecology) interact together in an evolving and interactive system – producing foci of disease (May 1958, 441). The interactive system comprises of the human and the disease; and in order for a disease to occur, it is necessary for an agent and host to come into mutual contact at the same time and place. Furthermore, to understand disease ecology microscopically, Dr. Mayer suggests that we, first understand the context of the disease, and second, the environment should be interpreted very broadly, and there should be no doubt that “environment” refers to more than the physical environment in both instances. (Mayer, 446). Dr. Mayer offers an approach to disease and health from the standpoint of political ecology. However, by “environment” he does not only mean the landscape, natural resources, animal populations or other physical fundamentals of nature, instead he states that the “environment” is simply an inclusive term, which refers to “external economic …show more content…
According to the current status of medical geography, the two major traditions focus on 1) the studies of health services delivery and 2) the studies of disease patterns, including disease ecology. This symbolizes how the relations between people and the environment are closely linked with cultural ecology. Yet, as previously mentioned, both cultural and political ecology define the political ecology of disease. All of these factors interconnect because of the microscopic aspects within an individual’s life. The same factors that affect the health of an individual, affect the probability of them being at risk of being at risk of diseases. In my perspective, the relationships between the political, economic and social characteristics and relations, the environment, need to be confined to capitalism and colonialism. To be more specific, throughout history, both capitalism and colonialism have influenced an immense affect on the societies who are suffering from health disparities and dying from diseases. A great example of how environment, economy, politics and human behavior, but yet capitalism and colonialism have primarily contributed to the development and increase of diseases is through Dr. Mayer’s example of malaria in Trinidad. When the country was in stage of development and transition from agriculture to
Verano, John W. and Douglas H. Ubelaker., ed. Disease and Demography in the Americas. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992.
Plagues and Peoples. By William H. McNeill. (New York: Anchor Books: A division of Random House, Inc., 1976 and Preface 1998. Pp. 7 + 365. Acknowledgements, preface, map, appendix, notes, index.)
Many of these diseases originate from animal populations. Humans’ interaction with the environment, and animals contribute to the rate and prevalence of disease. All three areas are interconnected. One Health is a concept that views human, animal, and environmental health as one area of health. The three entities, when separated can hinder each other and delay progress. The opposite is also true. When public health officials recognize the correlation between human, animal, and environmental health, advancements and innovation can occur. Other public health issues are present in relation to spread of infectious disease between humans and animals. People must know how to cook animal products in order to kill pathogens. Many diseases are also transferred when humans disrupt ecosystems. These are areas where public health has the opportunity to make progress. The issues that infectious diseases cause occur across the globe. In addition, One Health concepts can be applied to populations all over the
William, W. D. (2004). Culture and the risk of disease. British Medical Bulletin, 69, 21-31. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldh020
International public health policies attempt to reform the social and political systems which influence the health and safety of all citizens of the world. In the past, these policies have been created through the strong reliance on and exploitation of socially constructed systems of classification such as gender, sexuality, nationality, and economic class. It has been a system of correlation between the behaviors which seem prevalent within social groupings and chances that those behaviors will lead to disease transmition or infestation. In January 2004, the World Health Organization announced a radical change in their policies surrounding public health study and prevention in the 2004 World Report on violence and health. Instead of focusing on larger global and national trends, the WHO called for an expansion of policies and increase of resources which focused more on the experiences and support of individuals rather than groups. This value of individual experience holds extreme promise in the expansion and effectiveness of public health initiatives as well has changes many societal systems of classifications. However, there may be detrimental effects of this change that exploit the very subjects that they attempt to help. It is a question of forcing the private experience of disease into a public domain. Where are the lines of public verses private drawn?
Paul Farmer writes more about structural violence and disease. He says that in fact, disease is the embodiment of structural violence. The infectious diseases written about in his book, such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, are primarily caused by structural violence, and that this has been ignored by doctors and anthropologists. It is a popular American ideal to value choice as freedom, and to police the rest of the world but not help its suffering. Americans believe that we spend too much on foreign aid, and that we should focus our efforts on domestic problems, even in regard to health outcomes. However, although we place value on our borders, disease has no regard to borders, and disease can spread among our poor just as easily as it does among the poor in other nations.
...n Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 19 Feb 2012.
Europeans were deemed poor candidates for slavery due to their higher mortality rates. In 17th century, the New World was going through Public Health crisis. European immigration to the New World influenced the transmission of unknown epidemic diseases in American colonies. Warm climate in American colonies also became det...
There are three elements under environment, which are physical, psycho-social, and economic. Health issues do and can arise from environmental factors. Those living in a third world country have limited access to hospitals and care. Despite the age, young or old, people lose their lives because they didn’t have the resources to help them. And in the other hand, those that live in a country where they have access to hospitals and care,
Deborah Lupton, 2012. Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body. Third Edition Edition. SAGE publication Ltd.
The actual living conditions of people directly correlate to the spread of infectious diseases and infestation of chronic illnesses that result in premature death. Crowding, such as in ghettos and low income projects, creates an unnecessary closeness of people in a community. Therefore we see an increase in the spread of infectious diseases because human to human contact is inevitable. For instance, in the US controlled Marshall Islands has a population of over 10,000 people living in an area smaller than Manhattan. Tuberculosis runs rampant there and is often times left unchecked due to the lack of personal space in conjunction with poor sanitary conditions. Poor sanitation in a region is an effect of lack of public interest in the community and subsequently aids in the demise of the health of the population.
In some way, public health is seen as a modern philosophical and ideological perspective based on ‘equity’ and aimed to determine inequitable in society. It seen as a ‘science’ and ‘art’ in the sense that it deals with the cause of disease, treatment of illness as well as it involves laboratory experiments, intervention and promoting of health of the population. Winslow (1920, p. 23) defined public health as ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting physical health and efficiency through organised community efforts for the sanitation of the environment, the control community infections, the education of the individual in principles of personal hygiene, the organisation of medical and nursing service for early diagnosis and preventive treatment of disease, and the development of social machinery which will ensure to every individual in the community a standard of living adequate for the maintenance of health. On the other hand, it is ‘the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised effort of society’ (Acheson, 1998; in Cowley S, 2002, p. 261).
In the 1960s, doctors in the United States predicted that infectious diseases were in decline. US surgeon Dr. William H. Stewart told the nation that it had already seen most of the frontiers in the field of contagious disease. Epidemiology seemed destined to become a scientific backwater (Karlen 1995, 3). Although people thought that this particular field was gradually dying, it wasn’t. A lot more of it was destined to come. By the late 1980s, it became clear that people’s initial belief of infectious diseases declining needed to be qualified, as a host of new diseases emerged to infect human beings (Smallman & Brown, 2011).With the current trends, the epidemics and pandemics we have faced have created a very chaotic and unreliable future for mankind. As of today, it has really been difficult to prevent global epidemics and pandemics. Although the cases may be different from one state to another, the challenges we all face are all interconnected in this globalized world.
Throughout history, many individuals wish to discover and explain the relationship between nature and society, however, there are many complexities relating to this relationship. The struggle to understand how nature and society are viewed and connected derives from the idea that there are many definitions of what nature is. The Oxford dictionary of Human Geography (2003), explains how nature is difficult to define because it can be used in various contexts as well as throughout different time and spaces. As a result of this, the different understandings of what nature is contributes to how the nature society relationship is shaped by different processes. In order to better understand this relation there are many theorists and philosophers
London, England. The.. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine n.d., Session 5: The role of the state. in global health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England. Ricci J.