Health & place
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The first cases of swine flu in the UK were detected on 27th April 2009. Two weeks later Birmingham became a "hotspot" for the HIN1 pandemic in England. ⋯ The imposition of a single national approach to managing the pandemic and a disregard for the role of local authorities seriously impaired the ability of local agencies to respond in a flexible, timely and pragmatic way to the rapidly emerging situation. Future planning for pandemics must recognise that global epidemics are curbed at the local level, and ensure that any response is proportionate, flexible and effective.
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Although the term biosurveillance is employed with increasing frequency there remain variances in way in which the concept is both understood and practiced in the US and the UK, respectively. In this paper I begin by exploring the different epistemological and geographical approaches to biosurveillance that are employed in each locality, paying particular attention to the scales at which they, respectively, operate. ⋯ I contend in this paper, and illustrate through a study of the techniques of surveillance employed during the recent H1N1 (swine flu) pandemic, that these different 'registers' of biosurveillance are now being bought into the same frame of reference to create new, ever more robust and finely calibrated systems of biological surveillance. In thinking through the political implications of the emergent collision, I outline here, employing work from Cooper, Katz, and Lyon how biosurveillance is becoming progressively domesticated and reflect on the potential this has for creating new, expansive, and very pervasive, forms of biological 'governmentality'.
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Over the last two decades, HIV and AIDS have been framed as a "global problem". In the process, transnational advocacy networks have emerged as important actors, and particular places are recognised as key nodes in global HIV and AIDS governance. Using the example of London, UK, this paper examines how these networks are involved in local articulations of global governance and reveals that 'global' processes are inflected by the locations through which networks are routed. The example suggests the need for further analysis of the geographies through which HIV and AIDS is reconfiguring power relations at a variety of spatial scales.
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People living in rural and remote areas face challenges in accessing appropriate health services, many of which struggle to recruit and retain staff. While researchers have documented these issues in Australia and internationally, rural health remains reactive to current problems and lacks comprehensive understanding. ⋯ Viewed through Giddens' theory of structuration, the framework suggests that rural health is understood as spatial and social relations among local residents as well as the actions of local health professionals/consumers that are both enabled and constrained by broader health systems and social structures. The framework provides a range of stakeholders with a guide to understanding rural and remote health.
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This study used direct field observations with interior assessments of outlets to validate food store and restaurant data from two commercial business lists conditional on classification of outlet type, including supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, full-service restaurants and fast food restaurants. The study used a stratified random sample that included 274 urban census tracts across 9 counties from the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and 46 suburban and 61 rural census tracts across 13 counties from a 50-mile buffer surrounding the MSA. ⋯ The study also found that agreement levels for some outlet types differed by tract characteristics. Commercial databases must be used with caution as substitutes for on the ground data collection.