Professor of Public Health Geography at University of Durham, Clare Bambra, discusses her work on how geography can be a matter of life and death.
Today, Americans live three years less than their counterparts in Spain or Sweden. Scottish men live more than two years less than English men and Northerners in England live two years less than Southerners. Londoners living in Canning Town at one end of the Jubilee tube line live seven years less than those living eight stops along in Westminster. There is a 25 year gap in life expectancy between residents of the Iberville and Naverre suburbs of the US city of New Orleans – although they are just three miles apart.This talk examines these inequalities in life and death, showing that geographical health divides are longstanding and universal – present to a greater of lesser extent across both time and space.
Drawing on case studies of the US health disadvantage, the Scottish health effect, the North South health divide in England and local health inequalities across the towns and cities of wealthy countries, this talk explores the historical and contemporary nature of geographical inequalities in health. It looks at how they have evolved over time, what they are like today, and their social, environmental, economic and – ultimately - political causes. It examines what has and what could be done by governments to reduce these inequalities and how health divides might develop in the future. The talk presents a wealth of international, historical and contemporary data, to demonstrate how and why geography is a matter of life and death.
Clare Bambra PhD is currently Professor of Public Health Geography, Durham University (UK) and from 1 March 2017 will be Prof of Public Health in the Newcastle University Medical School. She is also the associate director of Fuse: the Centre for Translational Research in Public Health-a partnership of the five universities in the north-east of England. Her research focuses on the health effects of labour markets, health and welfare systems, as well as the role of social policies to reduce health inequalities.She has published extensively including How Politics Makes Us Sick: Neoliberal Epidemics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) and Health Divides: Where you live can kill you (Policy Press, 2016). She can be followed on Twitter @ProfBambra
The lecture will begin at 6.30pm and will be followed by a Q&A facilitated by Prof Bobbie Farsides.
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