Population, Environment and Disease: Towards Health Geography

This book discusses a broad range of vital issues in public health, encompassing health facilities, the healthcare system, disease and epidemiological transition of disease, spatio-temporal change of health facilities, disease patterns, and the complex reciprocal relationship between human health and the environment. The book is arranged into three broad sections. Part I: Socio-demographic determinants of public health and policies; Part II: Spatio-temporal & environmental determinants of public health and policies; and Part III: Disease epidemics and challenges. Considering all these overarching themes, this book has been prepared to discuss and provide insights to generate awareness of the holistic perspective of social, cultural, and political factors for public health, disease, epidemics, health facilities, the healthcare system, government policies, prosperity and backdrops in global and local contexts as a geographical perspective. The book should attract the attention of students, researchers, academicians, policymakers and other inquisitive readers interested in different aspects of public health, health geography, and spatial demography.

Dr. Asraful Alam is an assistant professor and head of the Department of Geography, Serampore Girls’ College, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India. He received his MA and PhD degrees in geography from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh and Aliah University, Kolkata, India, respectively, and also completed a PG diploma in remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS). Alam completed his post doctorate (PDF) from the Department of Geography, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. Previously, he was an assistant coordinator in the PG Department of Geography, Calcutta Women’s College, University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India. Dr. Alam is one of the Project Director of collaborative major project on “Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana: An Impact Assessment in Relation to the Life of Women in Assam and West Bengal” sponsored by Indian Council of Social Science Research, Ministry of Education, New Delhi. His research interests include population geography, agricultural geography, climatology, health geography, remote sensing and GIS, and developmental studies. He has contributed various research papers published in various reputed national and international journals and edited book volumes. He has authored jointly edited books entitled Habitat, Ecology and Ekistics: Case Studies of Human-Environment Interactions in India, Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security: Case Study of Availability and Sustainability in India, Agriculture, Environment and Sustainable Development:―Experiences and Case Studies, Life and Living through Newer Spectrum of Geography, Self-Reliance (Atmanirbhar) and Sustainable Resource Management in India, Climate Change, Agriculture and Society―Approaches toward Sustainability, Population, Sanitation and Health: A Geographical Study Towards Sustainability; Agriculture and Climatic Issues in South Asia Geospatial Applications and Disaster Risk, Resilient Agriculture, and Livelihood: Methods and Applications. He was a convener in the National Seminar on Self-reliance (Atmanirbhar), Sustainable Development and Environment 25–26 March 2022 sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) organized by the Department of Geography, Serampore Girls’ College. Alam has served as an editorial board member in peer-reviewed international journals PLOS ONE, Earth Science, Scientific Journal of Health Science Research, and Frontiers in Geochemistry.

Dr. Rukhsana is currently serving as an Assistant Professor in Department of Geography at Aliah University, Kolkata. She obtained her doctoral degree in Geography from Aligarh Muslim University. Dr. Rukhsana has published more than 40 research papers in reputed journals and four books at national and international levels. Dr. Rukhsana has presented a number of research papers and she was also conferred with the International Young Geographer Award. She has attended XXV FIG International Congress 2014, Malaysia, and ICGGS-2018, Bangkok, Thailand. She has supervised 4 PhD students. Her research interests include agriculture, urban population, environment and development in geography. She has supervised three scholars leading to the award of Ph.D. degrees in Geography. Dr. Rukhsana has successfully completed one major research project and one is ongoing sponsored by ICSSR, New Delhi. She has been the Head of the Department of Geography at Aliah University.

Sourav Biswas is a Ph.D. Research Fellow at the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai. He has five years of research experience in the field of Environmental Health. He obtained his BSc in Geography from Vidyasagar University and an MSc in Geography from the University of Calcutta, followed by a Masters in Population Studies at the Institute for Population Sciences. He has served as a reviewer for numerous reputed international journals. His research specializations include Environmental Health, WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), Child and Women Nutrition, remote sensing, and GIS. Biswas has published eight papers in international journals of repute and contributed two chapters to edited books. He has presented his research findings at various prestigious international conferences, such as the International Population Conference, 2021 held in India, and the International Health Economics Conference, 2022 held in Cape Town, South Africa.

Dr. Nazrul Islam has been serving as an Associate Professor of Geography and HoD at Cooch Behar Panchanan Barma University, Cooch Behar, West Bengal, India. Presently he is the Head of the Department at the said University. He did his Undergraduate (B.Sc.) and Master's (M.Sc.) at Calcutta University in Geography. He was awarded a National Scholarship for hisacademic excellence at the undergraduate level. He did his Ph.D. at the University of North Bengal. He has participated in many International and National level seminars/conferences (s) and has published research articles in reputed Journals and chapters in edited volumes. Dr. Islam has co-authored four edited books. He has participated in various training on RS and GIS from IIRS, Dehradun, DST, Kolkata, and different Universities in India. He has visited three foreign countries, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam, to attend International conferences. His areas of interest include Cartography, Environmental, and Industrial Geography. He has ample knowledge of GIS and Remote Sensing and the application of MCDM & Machine learning in Geography. He taught his students Google Earth Engine, Python, SPSS, and R.

Prof. Ranjan Roy is a well-known academician in Geography in west Bengal as well as in India and is a Professor and former HoD at the department of Geography and Applied Geography of University of North Bengal, Siliguri, India. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D degree in Geography and Applied Geography from the University of North Bengal and specialized in Cartography. His research interests are in Applied Cartographic techniques, Agricultural Geography, Urban Geography, Population problems, Rural Development, Regional Planning and experts in Remote Sensing and GIS. Prof. Roy has already published over ninety (90) articles in different reputed national and international journals and edited books. He has organized different national seminars and workshops till now. Prof. Roy has supervised a total of ten (10) scholars for Ph.D degree and six (06) scholars for M.Phil degree. He was co-investigator in “Preparation of contour map for drainage management in English Bazar municipality, Malda” which was sponsored by Malda municipality under govt. of west Bengal and also co-investigated UGC SAP DRS-I programme on ‘Geo-hazards in Sub-Himalayan West Bengal” from 2009 to 2014. He was a project investigator of North Bengal University assistance project on “An Appraisal of Urban BasicServices and Amenities in Newly Emerged Census Towns: A Case Study of Siliguri Subdivision of Darjiling District, West Bengal” in 2017-2018. Recently he has completed as Principle Investigator of Winter School programme on Geospatial technology that funded and supported by Department of Space and Technology (DST) of Govt. of India. He has jointly edited a book that titled “Application of Geospatial Technology in Geomorphology and Environment”.