Medical Geography

This book gives an in-depth introduction to Medical and Health Geography. The awareness that certain diseases may have connections with the geographical environment, may be traced back to an ancient period in human history. A record of such awareness comes down to us from Hippocrates who lived in 5th B.C,who wrote his treatise- Airs, Waters and Places.
It is evident from the above book(treatise) that Hippocrates believed in the natural healing process of rest, a good diet, fresh air and or cleanliness. Contemporary physicians too value the significance of Hippocrates airs, waters and places (Helwig, 1988).The medical geography as a research field was clearly laid in the mid-1800s by Dr. John Snow, who analyzed the spatial distribution of cholera cases in London, Snow found an unusual cluster of deaths around a single water pump. When the pump was shut down, the cases of cholera dropped drastically.(Rogers,2013) One finds similar allusions to medical geography in ancient Indian and Chinese literature as well. Ancient Indian Scholars of Ayurvedic medicine like Susruta (1500-1000 B.C.), Charak (100 B.C.), Bhel (700 A.D.) and others have described the regional patterns of various diseases. Charak Samhita a treatise on Indian medicine was translated from Sanskrit into Arabic in the beginning of eight century, and its name Sharaka Indianus occurs in the Latin translation of Avicenna s Razes.
It may also be noted that Medical geography was being widely practiced particularly by physicians before Louis Pasteur propounded his Germ Theory, but important contributions were also made by geographers, and by those physicians who were greatly encouraged by geographers like Alexander von Humboldt whose research focuses on spatial geographical elements.