Explaining Gun Deaths: Gun Control,Mental Illness,and Policymaking in the American States

Seeking to test two commonly proposed solutions to gun deaths in the United States, we examine the extent to which (1) tougher gun control laws, (2) greater access to mental health services, and (3) a combination of both approaches affect the rate of gun deaths in American states. We find that tougher gun control laws, as well as a combination of both approaches, are associated with a lower overall rate of gun deaths, and with a lower rate of nonsuicide gun deaths, while only tougher gun control laws are significantly associated with a reduction in the rate of gun-related suicides. Our findings serve as an initial guide to policymakers seeking to reduce the rate of gun deaths in their states.     

An Australian geography of unhealthy housing

Housing problems, such as affordability, poor quality of condition, or damp, are key determinants of health and wellbeing. Importantly, though, a growing body of research has shown that unhealthy housing is the combined result of multiple housing problems acting together. Although the spatial distribution of discrete housing problems is well established, little is known of Australia's geography of unhealthy housing. We have previously defined and validated an Australian Index of Housing Insults, which captures the multiple ways in which housing adversely influences individual health—including, but not limited to, people's tenure security, affordability, quality, and neighbourhood characteristics. Using the Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) dataset, a nationally representative longitudinal survey of Australian households, this paper describes Australia's geography of unhealthy housing. The analysis examines the prevalence, characteristics, and distribution of the population who are vulnerable to unhealthy housing. Our findings reveal both a worsening landscape of households at risk because of their accommodation and a changing pattern of unhealthy housing in Australia over time. The paper considers how these findings may impact future policy settings and the potential to improve the health of Australia's population through targeted housing interventions.     

‘War against the mosquito’: Allies,Italians and malaria during the occupation of Puglia, 1943–1946

War and healthcare are inextricably linked. In fact, the prevalence of disease in the armed forces can inflict more damage than the enemy. The case of endemic malaria during the Italian campaign of 1943–1945 in the Second World War is an excellent example. The region of Puglia was one of the most malarial regions in Italy and provides a noteworthy case of Anglo-American endeavours to eliminate the mosquito during the Second World War. The high prevalence of endemic malaria in the area represented a substantial threat to the health of Allied forces and as a result to the Allied war effort. This article explores Allied efforts to protect both Italian civilians and Allied troops from malaria, in order to demonstrate how Allied health policies affected the Allied–Italian relationship.     

Living with everyday environmental risks: giving a voice to young people in the design of community-based risk communication programs in the city of San Luis Potosí, México

Risk communication programs (RCPs) can contribute to the improvement of community health in marginalized settlements by improving health-related information and practices. Yet, there is a need to include young people's concerns in the design and implementation of RCPs. This study analyses young peoples’ risk perceptions in the city of San Luis Potosí, Mexico, using visual methods such as drawings and photography. Research was conducted with 74 students from two deprived urban neighborhoods. Results indicate that the use of visual techniques enabled them to identify environmental health risks such as unhealthy sedentary habits and the exposure to hazardous items. We conclude that visual methods may help young people to critically reflect on everyday elements in their environment that affect their well-being. By giving them a voice in a reflexive way, visual methods may engage young people as key multipliers in the awareness raising process, and promote their sense of everyday agency.     

国外对城市康体保护空间的研究

对城市康体保护空间的研究涉及医学地理学、健康地理学(或保健地理学)。前者重在探讨如地方病、癌症等的地理生态、地理流行特点、环境病因和疾病制图等领域。中国在此方面的研究已处于世界前列,特别是地理化学因素与地方病和癌症等的病因研究更为突出[2]。后者探讨社群总体健康水平与环境的关系。城市社会地理学出于对城市生活空间质量的探源,研究城市不同区位(或社区)康体保护的水平以及对社区的管制。国外对此方面的研究也可称为城市保健地理。由于国外发达国家已进入高消费阶段,对城市空间的康体性有了很高的期望,因此,在此方面的研究处于领先地位。其创新之处在于,摆脱了传统的与健康有关的城市宏观物资条件的分析,综合与康体有关的社群、行为、管理与社会经济因素的研究,引发了对城市保健地理方面的全面审视。本文在总结国外最新的文献和资料的基础上,从探讨城市生活空间质量水平的角度,全面对城市康体保护空间研究的内容进行总结,并力图用模式的形式表述出来。     

年龄分层视角下医疗设施可达性对居民就医行为的影响——以上海市崇明岛为例

年龄是影响就医行为的重要因素,从年龄分层视角出发探讨医疗资源可达性对就医行为的影响有助于理解居民的就医行为决策机理.本文以崇明岛为案例,利用一手调查数据,结合两步移动搜寻算法和回归分析方法,探讨了医疗设施可达性对居民就医机构选择和惯常就医距离的影响,揭示了不同年龄群体之间就医行为影响机理的差异.研究发现,医疗设施可达性...     

Social geographies of rural mental health: experiencing inclusions and exclusions

A dominant urban focus in previous research on the social geographies of mental health has obscured the experiences of people with mental health problems living in rural localities. Critiquing this urban focus, we report on research conducted in the rural and remote Scottish Highlands. Evidence derived from in-depth interviews with over 100 users of psychiatric services in the Highlands is deployed to investigate the complex socio-spatial dynamics of inclusion and exclusion experienced by these users on a daily basis. A discussion of the explanations that users themselves offer of their experiences is accompanied by a theoretical framing of these issues pivoting on relations of proximity–distance and intimacy–repulsion.     

The strange geography of health inequalities

Place is undoubtedly relevant to health, and geography is a central character in the story of how rich societies handle inequalities in death and disease. But the text is incomplete, its scope limited by a too-delicate encounter between research and policy, and by a strange subdisciplinary divide. Accounts of the geography in health inequalities are largely, albeit subtly, locked into 'context'. They document the complex extent to which different (material, social and cultural) environments undermine or enhance resilience. They tell the tale of risky places. Our complementary narrative is written around the findings of qualitative 'compositional' research. It is about the way health itself is drawn into the structuring of society and space. This geography is a map of health discrimination, illustrated in the processes of selective placement, entrapment and displacement. By drawing attention to the 'healthism' of politics and policy in 'care-less' competition economies, this enlarged perspective might enhance the role of geography (and geographers) in both understanding and managing health inequalities.     

Treatment or Placebo: Are State Programs Decreasing the Proportion of Uninsured?

Currently there are over 45 million Americans without health insurance. Recent growth in Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) enrollment of children has filled in the sizable gap created by decreased employer‐sponsored insurance since 2000. While the share of children who are uninsured actually decreased between 2000 and 2003, little progress was made in expanding public insurance to adults. As a result, advocates and policymakers at the federal and state level are searching for approaches to deal with the growing number of the uninsured. Conservatives advocate encouraging individuals to buy private insurance while liberals advocate the provision of health coverage through publicly financed health care. Using a 50‐state multilevel individual growth model, this study estimates the net effect of two state approaches in terms of reducing the uninsured: tax incentives (the conservative approach) and direct‐coverage programs (the liberal approach). The results suggest that these approaches have not achieved the results that many advocates had suggested. In the case of tax incentives, the results suggest that states with tax incentives experience increases in the rate of the uninsured. In the case of direct‐coverage programs, results suggest that states receive no relief in the number of uninsured individuals. Finally, the analysis suggests that the efforts originating at the federal level are most successful. These programs are a continuation of the incremental approach policymakers in America have taken to address the problem of the uninsured, rather than taking steps toward a truly comprehensive solution.     

Voluntarism and long-term care in the countryside: the paradox of a threadbare sector

This article contributes to the burgeoning literature on the geographies of voluntarism by addressing how voluntary sector providers in rural communities respond to the downloading of responsibilities for health and social care associated with public service restructuring. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of long-term care in Ontario, it focuses on the consequent actions of non-profit organizations, community support groups and volunteer caregivers in three different rural settings. Despite evidence of increasingly disproportionate levels of voluntarism amongst rural communities, the results reveal sector- and place-specific opportunities that allow voluntary sector providers to overcome the limitations of the rural service environment. The findings suggest that in the longer run, however, the growing dependence on local solutions will only exacerbate the uneven geographies of health and social care across rural space. Resolving this paradox remains a critical yet neglected challenge for sustainable rural services and communities.