Media Release
October 22 2008
Does where you live make you sick?
Where
you live can significantly affect your health and lead to higher rates
of diabetes, cardiovascular and coronary heart disease, obesity,
HIV/AIDS and even adverse births, according to UniSA’s Professor and
Research Chair for Social Epidemiology, Mark Daniel.
Prof Daniel will discuss these key health issues and how to overcome them in his seminar Does where you live affect your risk of chronic disease? as part of the University’s free Gift of Knowledge public lecture series this Wednesday October 22 from 6.30pm.
Prof Daniel says that a shift in health and social policy is essential to recognise the impact of the environment and the vital role of government in shaping the relationship between place and health.
“Governments can change these environments for the better and have the influence to shape public health policy and urban planning to reduce risk factors among susceptible residents,” Prof Daniel says.
“The rates of many lifestyle related diseases still vary between different countries because of different laws and regulatory structures that affect the way cities are designed, the safety of local areas, and the placement of goods and services that can hinder or promote health.
“Policy change can be anything from tax incentives and policies to prevent the establishment of fast food outlets to a commitment to constructing safe footpaths or bike paths.
“Considering transport options that allow access to fresh food and making it affordable in any area is another simple step that can have wide ranging repercussions for obesity, diabetes and heart disease.”
The field of spatial epidemiology - the study of the spatial distribution of disease and the geographic and environmental factors related to disease - is a growing focus internationally in population health research and Prof Daniel says it must be taken just as seriously in Australia.
“There is perhaps lesser recognition of this field in Australia where traditionally health sciences and public health researchers have emphasised a more biomedical or individual focus on individual issues like exercise, nutrition or genetics,” he says.
“With the advent of geographic information systems, widely used in spatial epidemiology, we can achieve a far more rigorously informed understanding of the role of the environment that shapes the health of the public.
Gift of Knowledge lecture - Does where you live affect your risk
of chronic disease?
When: Wednesday 22 October, 6.30–7.30pm
Where: Mutual Community Lecture Theatre, Basil Hetzel Building,
City
East campus
Contacts for interview
- Prof Mark Daniel office (08) 8302 2518 email mark.daniel@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
-
Linda Hein office (08) 8302 0965 mobile 0411 257 029
email linda.hein@unisa.edu.au