Geography of Health and Well Being

The course is designed to cater to a diverse range of students from various disciplines, aiming fostering an appreciation for environmental preservation as a key to achieving health and wellbeing. By enhancing their capacity to conserve resources in a sustainable manner, the course seeks to address the escalating health concerns, particularly in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this context, a comprehensive understanding of health concepts becomes imperative. Moreover, the course will illuminate the interconnections between the spatial distribution of diseases and geographical factors, offering insights into policy interventions aimed at mitigating their impact. Given the paramount importance of addressing the Global Burden of Diseases in achieving Sustainable Development Goals, this course endeavors to bridge the gap in understanding and action.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: 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.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: air pollution; linkages between household wastes, water, housing and diseases; workplace (case study).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).Emergence of new diseases and re-emergence of diseases (zoonotic diseases –case study).Climate change and human health: change in the climate system – heat and cold.Role of geospatial technology in overcoming health challenges 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.