Expanding North American perspectives on medical geography.

Abstract

By the end of the 197Os, contributions by North American geographers in the area of spatial aspects of human health problems had increased at such an exponential rate that previous definitions of the term “medical geography” were expanded to include an increasing variety of conceptual approaches and empirical investigations. This expansion can be attributed to the efforts of many to bring such “fringe area” topics as disease ecology and the geography of health care into the mainstream of geographic research via the use of continuously evolving modern scientific methodologies without the loss of important traditional techniques. As a result of these broadened perspectives, the key to understanding medical geography of the 1980s appears to be the acceptance of diversity without sacrificing meaningful spatial perspectives. The actual diversity has resulted in important exchanges of ideas wherein geographers have moved beyond previously established disciplinary boundaries, applied new analytical techniques to problems in medical geography (thus adding strength within the discipline), and subsequently collectively communicating in a multidisciplinary context to a wider scientific co~unity. Many of the papers developed for five separate medical geography sessions held during the 75th Anniversary Meeting of The Association of American Geographers in Philadelphia in April, 1979 can be considered seminal with respect to expectations over the next decade, while others reinforced important established associa&ons. Since there were more papers presented during the five sessions than could be placed in a single issue of this journal, additional articles will sub~quently appear within Volume 14D. The 14 papers selected for this issue have been arranged in a sequence ranging from more traditional field studies to innovative analyses of attitudes and behavior.