ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at disease eradication and control using vaccination, considering smallpox and polio eradication efforts in particular. It also looks at the global obesity crisis to show how ecological and social perspectives can inform effective interventions for a chronic disease. Eradication can yield significant economic gains, not only from the reduction of healthcare costs to treat the illness, but also from the diminished need for vaccination, surveillance, and prevention programs. At the core of the geography of health is an interest in the ways that space and place influence health. Geographic approaches to obesity have focused on the influence of physical and social environments on obesity rates, and particularly the emergence of obesogenic societies “characterized by environments that promote increased food intake, non-healthful foods, and physical inactivity”. The eradication of smallpox remains a high point in global public health efforts.
