Tingyi’s Geob479 blog

Health geography is related to medical geography, but is much more. It should be obvious that GIS can play a major role in several areas of health geography. However, similarly, it should also be obvious that the use of technologies such as GIS must always be tempered by a critical social and cultural perspective on the issue. The three main themes in the geography of health care (or medical geography) are : disease ecology, health care delivery, and environment and health. Health geography problematizes some of the unquestioned beliefs of medical geography. This includes the assumption that doctors are “neutral,” and that factors such as gender and race are important to the provision of healthcare for various populations. Different populations are treated differently and view the system differently.