Health Geography in Sub-Saharan Africa (eBook)

This volume creates a platform to showcase health geography research from countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and draws on theoretical and methodological innovations to initiate a discussion on the complexities of the issues impacting health in the region. Through theoretically and empirically grounded contributions from a variety of researchers working across SSA, the book addresses a wide range of topics that are usually treated separately when discussing health geography in the region. By bridging the social science and health disciplines, the book introduces new ways of thinking temporally and spatially about these topics in non-geography contexts as well. In 4 sections, the text will broadly appeal to students, researchers, teachers, policy makers, and global health professionals. 

Section 1 addresses the social determinants of health, including gender, disability, and other inequities and inequalities associated with healthcare access. Section 2 discusses the environmental determinants of health such as food security, water and sanitation, mining, and climate change. Section 3 focuses on current and emerging challenges to health in SSA, including ageing, non-communicable disease, and infectious diseases. Section 4 concludes the text by discussing the need to develop social and environmental intervention policies and strategies to address health challenges in SSA.

Dr. Joseph Asumah Braimah is an Inclusive Excellence Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Health & Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough. His research focuses primarily on the health and wellbeing of marginalized and structurally exposed populations in the Global South and the Global North, drawing on multiple methodologies and theoretical perspectives. His work largely revolves around aging and health, social determinants of health, food insecurity, and community-based participatory research. 

Dr. Vincent Kuuire is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geography at University of Toronto Mississauga. His research interests include migration and immigrant well-being, population health, environment and health connections, healthcare access, and non-communicable diseases. His research sites are in North America (specifically Canada) and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa. He also teaches courses in health and migration.

Dr. Elijah Bisung is an Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen's University. He is a health geographer focusing on social and environmental production of health and well-being. His research interests include environmental collective action for environmental health promotion, environmental stress and psychosocial health, community based participatory research, health systems resilience to climate change, and safe water and sanitation interventions in sub-Saharan Africa.