Online Program

Oral

Special Session Background Health and Place are intrinsically linked with each other as is highlighted by this year’s overall theme on Healthography. The emerging fields of Healthography and Geomedicine are based on the premise that health has the environment of a person as its geographic context— a context, which includes the physical, meteorological, socio-cultural, economic, and the health care environment. To evaluate determinants of health, design effective interventions and guide research and policy efforts, a comprehensive view of these contributing factors is needed. The special session will focus on three areas that are interrelated and will provide the attendees with a greater appreciation for viewing environmental and individual health determinants as inseparable but yet distinct components. The areas covered will include a general introduction to the concept of Healthography and the interaction of environmental and individual health behaviors in contributing to health and wellbeing by contrasting two nearby communities. Secondly, a practical intervention study is being presented that modified the environment by exposing school children living in food deserts to school gardens. The third presentation will focus on current research that combines individual life behavior data and health outcomes with contextualized geospatial data of health determinants. The purpose of this session is to initiate a discussion and awareness among researchers, policy makers, educators, and public health practitioners of the importance of Healthography in integrating individual level and contextual information in developing more accurate Public Health Endeavors for Research, Practice and Policy.

Session Objectives: Describe and discuss the importance of Healthography and its value in Public Health Research and Practice. Evaluate practical interventions that alter the local context. Discuss and evaluate the interaction between individual health behaviors, lifestyle and geospatial context.