ABSTRACT
Health/medical geography is a sub-discipline of human geography that involves the application of geographical perspectives, information, and methods to the study of health, disease, and health care. Developing countries, historically embedded in unequal global relationships and composed of unique cultural identities and histories, face special circumstances in defining, establishing, and maintaining health'. Development itself is a somewhat ambiguous term that has different meanings to different people. Other common terms, such as Developing World', Third World' or Global South' have similar ambiguity and some have objected to their appropriateness. In many ways the convergence of the geographies of health and development is a natural one, as at their core these disciplines focus on many overlapping issues. While the geographies of health and development form a natural bond, there are simultaneously many challenges encountered by researchers working around this nexus; this is especially the case when health geographers are moving to work in a context outside of the discipline's traditional domains.
