GEOGRAPHY 280
The Geography of Health and Health Care
Winter, 2009
Monday, Wednesday, Friday 11:30-12:20 Smith 120
Quiz Sections: Thursdays at varying times
Dr. Jonathan D. Mayer,
Professor, Departments of Epidemiology, Geography, Global Health, Medicine (Infectious
Diseases), Family Medicine, and Health Services
Email: jmayer@u.washington.edu
Tel: (206) 543-7110
Offices: 412-C Smith Hall
(Department of Geography) and Health Sciences Building,
F-259 (Department of
Epidemiology)
Office Hours; Wednesday
afternoons by appointment only—no drop ins.
TAs: Tish Lopez (maoquai@u.washington.edu)
Maureen
Hickey Putnam (mhhp@u.washington.edu)
Kathryn
Gillespie (katieag@u.washington.edu)
Andrew
Childs (agc4@u.washington.edu)
Schedule: As
noted in the on-line schedule, we will meet for lectures, films, and
presentations on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. You will meet in quiz sections
on Thursdays. Attendance at quiz section is both important for your learning,
and is mandatory.
Quiz sections are more
“discussion sections.” They will
consist of some review and discussion of topics introduced in the lecture
sessions, but will also introduce some new material, and will cover the
readings more specifically. This is also the venue for introducing and grading
the assignments, discussed on the last page of this document.
There will be a take-home,
open book final examination. The exams must be the work of each of you,
individually.
THE COURSE:
In this course, we will
examine, learn, and debate the concepts of health, global health care, disease,
and illness from a geographical perspective. The focus of this course will be
on geographical patterns of health and disease, from the viewpoint of
populations rather than individuals. The focus of medicine is on the treatment of individuals; our focus, like that
of public health, will be on understanding health and disease from the
perspective of populations.
The specific objectives of
the course are to:
1) Facilitate
a critical understanding of health, disease, illness, and society;
2) Introduce some of the major contemporary issues in global
health;
2) Promote
an understanding of how geography as a discipline contributes to understanding
health and health care;
3) Understand
the role of health and disease as fundamental issues in society;
4) Understand
global change in relation to health; and
5)
Within the
context of the course content, improve writing, communications, critical
thinking, and analytical skills.
THE REQUIREMENTS:
Specific requirements for the
course are on the last page of this handout.
A word on academic honesty
and integrity is in order. This is extremely important, so please read this
carefully. If you continue past the first day in class, this means that you
agree to abide by the rules spelled out in URL below. We will adhere strictly
to the rules of the University of Washington and the academic community in
prohibiting plagiarism, cheating, and academic honesty. These provisions are
spelled out in detail at the following website, with which all students are
expected to be familiar. Each year in this class, several cases of cheating and
plagiarism, unfortunately, are discovered. To prevent this, you must
read the contents of the following website:
http://depts.washington.edu/grading/issue1/honesty.htm
We assume that each and
every student is familiar with the contents of this web page. No excuses will
be accepted for academic dishonesty. Whenever any written work is submitted, it
will be graded with the presumption that the student has read and understood
this website, and has agreed to abide by the standards dictated by UW’s
standards for academic honesty.
THE READING:
The following books, which
can be acquired from the University Bookstore, other local bookstores, or a
web-based book company, are required for the course:
Abraham Verghese, My Own Country. New York: Vintage Books,
1995.
Jonny Steinberg, Sizwe’s Test: A Young Man’s Journey Through
Africa’s AIDS Epidemic. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2008.
Jonathan Harr, A Civil Action. New York: Vintage Books,
1995.
Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A
Hmong Child, Her Doctors, and the Collision of two Cultures. New York:
Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1997.
Tracy Kidder, Mountains
Beyond Mountains: Healing the World: The Quest of Paul Farmer. New York: Random House, 2003.
Finally,
subscribe to the online service ProMED, which is the “Program for Monitoring
Emerging Diseases.” Go to www.promedmail.org.
You will be redirected, and in the upper left, there will be a link to
“subscribe/unsubscribe.”
COURSE OUTLINE:
Note: Dates are only approximate and will vary
depending upon “breaking news”
and course progress. Events such as the evolving
epidemic of avian influenza, and cholera in Zimbabwe will be integrated into
the course.
Week of Mon. January 5: INTRODUCTION TO COURSE AND TO
GEOGRAPHY OF HEALTH AND DISEASE
Reading: Verghese ch. 1-5, pp. 5-106.
Week of
January 12th
THE CHALLENGES OF GLOBAL HEALTH: examples (will begin on Fri Jan 9th)
Reading: Verghese ch. 6-16, pp. 107-274;
Steinberg,
preface and Part One (pp. 1-75).
Avian Flu: Is it a Threat?
Urban Slum Health
Vaccines: Development, Distribution (logistics),
and Ethical Dilemmas
Global
Burden of Disease; Measurement and Geographical Differences
Weeks of January 19th AND January 26th :
NOTE: MONDAY January 19th IS MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY—NO CLASS
THE GEOGRAPHY OF HIV/AIDS
Introduction to Disease Ecology;
Emerging Infectious Diseases;
Where did HIV/AIDS begin?
How has HIV/AIDS spread?
Global
Patterns of HIV/AIDS;
HIV/AIDS in the United States;
HIV/AIDS in Africa;
HIV/AIDS in Asia;
HIV and Tuberculosis;
Reading:
Rest
of Verghese, week of Jan 26th);
Kidder,
pp. 3-113, (week of Jan. 19th)
Steinberg, part two, pp.
79-232 (week of Jan 19th);
Week of February 2nd and 9th: GEOGRAPHY OF
“APPARENTLY” NON-INFECTIOUS DISEASES; ENVIRONMENTAL SOURCES OF DISEASE
Cancers
and Cancer Clusters
Cardiovascular Disease
Neurological Diseases
Reading:
Rest of Kidder(week of Feb. 2nd);
Rest
of Steinberg (week of Feb 2nd)
All
of Harr (week of Feb 9th).
.
Week of February 16th
POVERTY AND HEALTH: THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH\
Note: Monday February 16th is Presidents
Day. No class.
Poverty and Health;
The Social Determinants of Health;
Income Inequality and Health;
Week of February 23rd
GEOGRAPHY AND HEALTH SERVICES; POLICY ISSUES IN HEALTH
CARE
Regionalization and Health Care; Small
Area Analysis and Evidence Based Medicine
The Importance of Health Service
Location;
Urban-Rural Differences in Health Care;
Reading: Fadiman, pp. vi-59 (incl “Do Doctors Eat
Brains?)
Week of March 2nd: Comparative Health Systems;
Why Do Different Systems Arise in
Different Countries?
The British National Health System;
The Canadian Health Care System;
Reading: Fadiman, pp. 60-139.
Week of March 9th: Comparative Health Care Systems
(cont); Culture, Multiculturalism, and Health
The
Hmong Experience: Epidemiology of Migration and War;
Multiculturalism and Health;
Health and Cultural Conflict in the
United States;
Incorporating a Diversity of Beliefs
Reading: Fadiman, pp. 140-288.
Grades
will be based on the following:
1)
Participation in quiz section (based upon short, simple quizzes on the
reading)—10%
2)
60% for 3 short papers of equal weight in quiz section (20% each). Each
paper should be about 3 pp. This will be explained further in quiz section on
Thursday,
3)
30% for a take-home final exam to be distributed during the last week
of class. This will be due on Monday of final exam week.