Class 8- Noncommunicable Disease and Political Ecology Flashcards
1
Q
Noncommunicable diseases
A
- Noncommunicable diseases cannot be transferred from one person to another
- Degenerative diseases
- Diseases of old age, e.g., heart disease, stroke, cancer
- Some diseases or conditions are not always related to aging
- e.g., asthma, obesity, diabetes
- Degenerative diseases
2
Q
Shifting Burden of Disease
A
- Global shift in disease burden
- Changes in global economy
- Changes in fertility
- Demographic transition
- Epidemiological transition
- Worldwide, noncommunicable diseases are now the main cause of death
3
Q
Etiology of Noncommunicable Diseases
A
- Complex etiology
- Multifactorial, many causes
- Exposure
- Latency period
- Difficulties for health geographers
- Often, related to aggregation, as well as uncertainty in exposure
4
Q
Noncommunicable Disease: Difficulties for health geographers
A
- Difficulties for health geographers
- We often only possess where the disease was diagnosed
- …not where the exposure occurred
- …or when the exposure occurred
- …or the magnitude or length of exposure
- We often only possess where the disease was diagnosed
5
Q
What is Political Ecology
A
- How higher level socioeconomic or political structures (and processes) create the context in which individuals or local cultures interact with their environment
- Often, deals with who has “power” and how it affects or marginalizes those who do not have “power”
6
Q
Political Ecology scale
A
- Political ecology often concentrates on ideas of scale
- How do policies made for the entire country disproportionately affect some communities or some population groups?
- For example, globalization and the expansion of the western diet
- Nutrition and scale
7
Q
Political Ecology: Critical Geography
A
- Power differentials also characterize everyday interactions related to health
- e.g., between patient and doctor, and people can be “othered”
- Systematically marginalized by society on the basis of their health
- e.g., between patient and doctor, and people can be “othered”
8
Q
Political Ecology: Health disparities
A
- Access, exposure, behavior
- Cycle of poverty
- Housing and environment
- Access to economic opportunity
- Cycle of poverty
9
Q
Political Ecology: Gender
A
- Fertility policy
- Governments may have social or economic reasons to enact or change fertility policy
- Reproductive policy
- Promote contraceptive technologies
- Control the fertility of certain groups within a society
10
Q
Race
A
- Considering race as a “social” rather than a “biological” construct
- Often, bound tightly with ideas about socioeconomic status and poverty
- Difficult to sort out the effects of various “insults” on health
- How do we decipher what is racial, cultural, socioeconomic… when all of them are often so tightly bound?
11
Q
Modes of Infectious disease transmission
A
- Direct transmission
- From host to host via some form of contact (non-vectored)
- E.g., tuberculosis, influenza, and gonorrhea
- From host to host via some form of contact (non-vectored)
- Indirect transmission
- From host to host via a vector
- E.g., Lyme disease, malaria, Schistosomiasis
- From host to host via a vector
12
Q
Modes of Non-vectored Diseases Transmission
A
- Modes of transmission
- Skin or sexual contact
- E.g., HIV/AIDS, syphilis, impetigo
- Environmental contact
- Airborne
- E.g, influenza, tuberculosis
- Water or food
- E.g., cholera
- Soil
- E.g., tetanus
- Airborne
- Skin or sexual contact
13
Q
Mode of Tranmission/Geographic Analysis
A
- Mode of disease transmission is a critical factor in geographic analysis and/or modeling applications
- What questions to ask? Which data to include?
- Social processes
- Physical/Environmental processes
- Travel behavior and interaction
- What questions to ask? Which data to include?
14
Q
Pathogenicity
A
How likely is the disease to develop in an infected person
15
Q
Virulence
A
How dangerous is the disease
16
Q
Secondary attack rate
A
Likeliness of passing the disease from one person to another
17
Q
Basic Reproduction Number (R0)
A
Average number of secondary infections produced by a single person in a completely susceptible population
18
Q
Susceptible
A
Person who can be infected
19
Q
Immune
A
Person who can no longer be infected due to immune response to having the disease or via vaccination
20
Q
Infectious
A
Person actively able to pass the infection
21
Q
Tranmission requirements
A
- Non-vectored disease transmission requires contact (or proximity) between people in both time and space
- Important parameters
- Distance
- Separation among people
- Density
- People / area, which affects the likelihood of people coming into contact with each other
- Other parameters
- Susceptibility
- Agent survival (in the environment)
- Social/cultural behavior
- Distance
- Important parameters
22
Q
Herding of humans
A
- In general, we live and work in groups
- At many different scales!
- Think cities (macro) and households (micro), schools, workplace, home
- All places in which humans that are distributed (residentially) gather into a “smaller” place
- Think cities (macro) and households (micro), schools, workplace, home
- Herding provides an opportunity for interaction
- Changes in distance and density among people
- At many different scales!
23
Q
Poverty
A
- Many diseases and conditions occur more frequently in the poor than the affluent
- “Poor” is a relative term
- Consider the differences worldwide
- Access, exposure, behavior all contribute!
- “Poor” is a relative term
24
Q
Poverty: Understanding the process
A
- Cycle of poverty
- Access to economic opportunity
- Housing and environment
- Remember environmental justice?
- Healthy landscapes
- Lack of access to primary care
- Lack of access to healthy food
- Violence, despair, and unhealthy social environments
