de Blij 4 Human Health

8/11/2012

This interesting look at disease, water supply and their relationship to globalization is a longer chapter. Make time for it! And remember to look up words you don't know!

40 Comments

Sam Linda

10/11/2012 06:57:55

As you said during chapter 5 we should have studied the examples that de Blij offered, (where, when, what, how, and most importantly why). Is this the right approach for chapter four if we want to do well on the test? What other things should we look at to be successful for this chapter? Thanks.

Bingham

11/11/2012 02:38:43

I think you should identify the main idea, the gist, of what de Blij is saying in each section and the chapter as a whole. Then organize a list of examples made up of the 6 journalistic questions.

Jakob Hulten

10/11/2012 11:52:03

Do we just need to know the names of the diseases and how they affected people, or are symptoms that de Blij lists just as important?

Bingham

11/11/2012 02:39:51

Not just as important, but you should be familiar with the main symptoms and how they vary from disease to disease.

Leina Betzer

11/11/2012 02:24:20

on page 84 it says that dudley stamp "traced the frightening penatrations of higher latitudes by nonvectored infectious diseases with tropical origins" can you please explain what de blij means by this?

Bingham

11/11/2012 02:42:14

I'm glad to see you guys being smart and working on this over the weekend. That's highly predictive of your success on this assessment! (You're likely to do well!)

Leina, I'd be happy to help, but let me see where you are and I'll comment. What do you think de Blij means?

Leina Betzer

11/11/2012 02:53:28

thank you! i think de blij is saying that infections in higher latitudes originated in lower latitudes

Bingham

11/11/2012 03:53:51

Yes, that's it, but you are missing a key point. It's the "non-vectored" part. Later in that section, he goes on to explain that diseases such as cholera are transmitted by the contamination of drinking water by the feces of an infected human - no vector.

Emily Soice

11/11/2012 06:14:54

in my dictionary, it says that vector means the distance between two points. is that the definition de Blij is using?

Emily Soice

11/11/2012 06:23:31

will you test us on any of the historical jargon words on the chap. 4 test?

Bingham

11/11/2012 08:24:01

Anything in the chapter is fair game. Give me an example.

Bingham

11/11/2012 06:33:37

Clearly not. That doesn't make sense in context. I'm sure you know there are multiple meanings for a word. Wikipedia has a pretty good article on disease vectors.

Gina Cook

11/11/2012 08:27:09

In the paragraph above the subheading, "Geography of Life and Death," de Blij talks about a study where computers, without being told where the participants lived, were able to categorize people into six regional groups based on their DNA.
This seemed to go against what was said in the video we watched in class called, "Race: The Power of an Illusion." I thought that video was saying that race does not exist biologically.
I cannot think of any way that these fit together. I feel like I am missing something or that am not understanding something correctly. Please help me sort out my confusion. Thanks!

Bingham

11/11/2012 08:48:46

You are absolutely right Gina, this does conflict. The studies de Blij references identifies genetic variations by region, not race. He's making a point about the potential impact of an individual's genetics on therapies for a specific disease. Medical researchers may not be able to design a one size fits all cure. This does not necessarily translate to other human traits. At the end of the day, there are wide variations between human characteristics but they are not due to race. Race remains a social construct.

Gina Cook

11/11/2012 09:02:29

Thank you so much!

Tinsley

11/11/2012 11:47:27

Mr. Bingham, I think that this is the thesis of chapter 4: The geography of health displays regional [global versus periphery] variations that add a crucial criterion to the composite power of place. Is this a good statement to sum up the chapter? If not, how could it be improved? Thank you!

Bingham

11/11/2012 12:03:41

Tinsley, good effort, you are on track and very close. I didn't check, but it appears you grabbed a sentence from the book. To catch a thesis from a sophisticated writer like de Blij, you will have to think more globally about the chapter. This is part of in for sure, but there's more!

Allison Elder

11/11/2012 12:07:41

In Geography of Life and Death De Blij says, "When areas in the global periphery are afflicted by cultural conflict, the incidence of disease always rises" (bottom of page 87). I'm confused about what he is referring as the cultural conflict. Could you clarify this for me? Thank you!

Bingham

11/11/2012 13:08:10

Good question Allison. Cultural conflict is a general term about disagreements within a society about issues like class (who's in charge, who makes the rules), religion (one true faith versus religious toleration) and other cultural attributes like family traditions, language an political systems.
When people are debating these issues, human health goes un-noticed, under funded and often ignored to the detriment of many people. Organizations like WHO, the Red Cross and the many agencies of the United Nations are unable to come to the aid of people. As a result, large numbers of people suffer and die needlessly.

Leina Betzer

12/11/2012 11:52:22

Is the overall thesis of chapter four that "birthplace and wellness are closely linked" or is it more complicated than that?

Bingham

12/11/2012 12:10:16

More complicated than that. :-!

Bingham

12/11/2012 12:35:02

You know, I was just thinking, you guys should be really sure you've looked up all the words that are new to you. Maybe make flash cards.

kelsey cartwright

12/11/2012 12:58:00

For chapter 4 of the power of place I need help on improving my thesis.
thesis: Although there are more risks of infections in higher altitudes than low altitudes low altidues, the social conflict in the global care and periphery is medical care.
Or something on those lines.........

Kayelee Ellis and Shayla Nidever

12/11/2012 13:53:36

We've noticed throughout the chapter that the word vector is used frequently. We looked up the word and it said "a transporter or host". De Blij gives examples and says these vectors are mosquitoes, snails, worms and such. Even though he gives plenty of examples we are having a hard time grasping the thought. Will you explain?

Bingham

12/11/2012 14:03:11

Sounds like you have the idea; some diseases, many of the worst, are spread from person to person, by these vectors. That's important because we can control many diseases by controlling the vector.

Shayla & Kayelee

12/11/2012 14:10:30

So by controlling the insect (vector) we control the disease? also, Isn't it also true that even though we try to control the vectros they constantly adapt against what we try to 'combat' them with? Is that neither the fault of the global core, or periphery, or does the core not want to get involved because they arent affected as much?

Sam Linda

12/11/2012 15:25:05

If I can make an attempt to help out, yes, by controlling the vector, which is not necessarily an insect, we can control the disease. I talked with Bingham today and he said that it would be as simple as providing three dollar mosquito nets for the suffering nations, but as people, we don't care about others. De Blij also stresses on the ability of the actual parasite involved in malaria to adapt. There's has always a pattern when a new treatment is introduced that starts with it working well at first, then weakening results because of parasite resistance.

Kate Ham

13/11/2012 09:02:39

Mr. Bingham,
For the section, "Paradox of Globalization," I'm not sure I completely understand medical tourism. On the surface it seems to make sense because it is cheaper service, but then there's the cost of traveling as well as insurance problems, the fact that their methods may be different, and probably other financial and legal things I am missing. For something as fragile as health, is this the silly idea greedy globals have?

Bingham

13/11/2012 09:20:24

The appeal is that the cost of procedures is so much lower, globals can afford the travel and luxury accommodations and still save money. It's especially popular for plastic surgery and things that are not approved here- cancer treatments and stuff like that.
Silly and greedy? Probably. But his point is the locals are the medical losers.

Andrew Han

13/11/2012 09:46:32

I am a little confused on what exactly is a topography of something such as when de Blij uses it to explain our health on page 81 can you explain.

Bingham

13/11/2012 09:59:10

Dude, maybe you're over thinking this. He's being figurative. Did you look up the definition of topography? It's simply a way of describing or depicting a location. Like hills and valleys. So if he's referencing the quality of a place, like healthiness, he's referencing how that can be variable with in a given area.

Andrew Han

13/11/2012 11:41:32

I am confused on the wording of de Blij on page 94 where it says "schistosomiasis is second only to malaria as humanity's most serious infectious disease" is it saying that malaria is the most infectious disease?

Indigo Ghonima

13/11/2012 12:10:19

I am sort of confused when on pg 104 de Blij starts talking about yellow fever. He says that you can walk across the forest floor without there being mosquitoes, but when you get to where the people are. Is he trying to prove that global warming is not the main issue of thriving vectors or....

Indigo Ghonima

13/11/2012 12:12:42

*He says that you can walk across the forest florr without there being mosquitoes UNTIL you get to where the people are. sorry.

Bingham

13/11/2012 12:25:20

Yes

Bingham

13/11/2012 21:00:33

That yes was for Andrew.
Indigo, yes, he's saying the mosquitos are more concentrated in cities. And yes, he IS saying that global warming is not the only factor in the increase in vectors.

diamondsareforever__

13/11/2012 14:40:37

I know it's late but on page 90 in the second paragraph line 7, De Blij starts to talk about global warming and urban crowding and I'm not really understanding what he's trying to say in that sentence. Can someone help me out? That'd be great :)

Emily Soice

21/11/2012 09:00:29

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/around-the-world-abc-news/dengue-malaria-deadly-disease-outbreaks-worldwide-130642103.html . PoP is hard reado=ing, but I'm so happy when it actually comes up in mylife, unlike other school subjects. Thank You.

Bingham

21/11/2012 09:20:57

Well thanks Emily!
Stay along for the ride. There's lots more of that coming, these things will resonate in your life over and over.

Pueraria link

30/9/2013 22:43:59

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de Blij 4 Human Health

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