ABSTRACT

Originally published in 1987 this textbook is a comprehensive introduction to the rapidly developing field of medical geography. It illustrates the ideas, methods and debates that inform contemporary approaches to the subject, demonstrating the potential of a social and environmental approach to illness and health. The central theme is the need to reject an exclusively biological approach to health. The authors examine both the geography of health care and outline a selection of health service planning initiatives in both North America and Europe.

chapter Chapter 1|37 pages

The social context of disease, health and medicine

chapter Chapter 2|68 pages

The collection of epidemiological information

chapter Chapter 3|40 pages

The causal analysis of epidemiological data

chapter Chapter 4|44 pages

Communicable diseases

chapter Chapter 5|27 pages

Concepts and issues in mental illness

chapter Chapter 6|33 pages

Inequalities in health care

chapter Chapter 7|20 pages

Explaining health care inequality

chapter Chapter 8|39 pages

Planning policy and the health services

chapter Chapter 9|57 pages

Critical perspectives