ABSTRACT
Medical geography is concerned with the analysis of spatial patterns of disease and health care provision. John M. Hunter of Michigan State University correctly defined the field as “the application of geographical concepts and techniques to health-related problems”.
Thus, this branch of geography utilizes the concept and techniques of geography to investigate health-related issues. The analysis of the areal or spatial patterns of disease and health care provisions may be often based on mapping of various indicators of health, disease, and health care provisions. Such process helps understand the environmental framework of the occurrences of diseases and may lead to future forecasting of diseases.
Historical medical geography deals with changing environmental conditions – both physical and socio-economic and cultural patterns and the incidence of diseases. It is always fascinating to compare the pattern of diseases and access to health in the past with the contemporary scenario of health and disease patterns to identify the process of change in the pattern of health and disease.
