Health and territory
in a post-pandemic context
The Geo-Health 2022 (Geosaúde 2022) Congress, under the theme “Inequalities in health, inequalities in the territory: challenges for Portuguese-speaking countries in a post-pandemic context”, was held in Lisbon, on September 12-14, 2022, at the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning of the University of Lisbon, and created the opportunity to bring together academics and professionals from various health-related areas.
Organized in eight axes, Geo-Health 2022 took place at a time when Geography saw its importance reinforced in the explanation of the phenomena. The interpretative capacity based on factors related to the demographic structure, the settlement system, namely the role of cities, the distribution of economic activities, mobility and the combination of biological factors and health status of populations, explained not only the differentiated patterns of SARS-CoV-2 diffusion (Andersen et al., 2020; Fortaleza et al., 2020; Nossa et al., 2022; Mileu et al., 2022; Oliveira et al., 2022; Praharaj et al., 2020; Sousa et al., 2021), but also demonstrated the implications of the COVID 19 pandemic in increasing economic, social, and environmental inequalities from global to local scales (European Committee of the Regions et al., 2020; Korte et al., 2021; Mofijur et al., 2021). The urban planning based on sustainability, sees its importance reinforced, valuing green spaces, soft mobility and walkability, new forms of organization and location of work, preservation of ecosystems, reorganization of health systems, among other aspects. It also showed the need to develop monitoring systems and new approaches to territorial analysis to support decision making.
This section contains five texts that address some of these themes.
The first three texts highlight the importance of developing information-based monitoring systems covering domains directly related to health as well as complementary ones, such as decision support. The work of Rodriguez-Rodriguez and Alonso Pardo (2022), presents a methodology that lists information on the health system and other complementary social indicators, fundamental to health planning and planning in Mauritania, a country with a large percentage of vulnerable population. The elaboration of the health map allows the supply of services to be adapted to the needs of the population and supported the implementation of Health Development Plans whose objective was to combat health inequalities. The second text, by Vieira et al. (2022), focuses on the importance of monitoring water quality through the control of land uses in the territories that make up the hydrographic basin of the Itajaí-Mirim River (Brazil), as a support for public policies. The article by Gioia et al. (2022), seeks to identify the role of socioeconomic factors in predicting the risk of contagion of neglected diseases such as leprosy, tegumentary leishmaniasis and dengue. The methodology developed selects the most important socioeconomic variables helping to tailor policy responses.
The second group of articles addresses different perspectives related to the quality of life of the population and its relationship with the urban environment. Thus, the fourth text presented by Veloso et al. (2022) brings to the discussion a topic of growing affirmation during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study carried out in the Northern Lisbon Metropolitan Area, develops a reflection on telework, discussing its effects on families. The results show that despite the reduction of time spent on mobility, there is a greater difficulty in time management, affecting the work-family balance. From a different perspective, Santana et al. (2022) presents a study that highlights the role of Vitamin D in the population health, relating its availability to the local climate and the presence of green areas. The study focuses on the female population of Araraquara – São Paulo (Brazil) and demonstrates how the strengthening of urban planning based on Nature-Based Solutions contributes to reducing pollution and improving public health.
The thematic and geographic diversity present in the five articles is representative of the quality of Geo-health 2022, whose results can be seen in Marques da Costa and Louro (2022). It is also important to highlight that the text by Thamy Bárbara Gioia et al., a Student of the PhD Program in Geography at the Federal University of Goiás, entitled “Socioeconomic factors and Machine Learning algorithms applied to the risk prediction of neglected diseases. Case study in municipalities of the State of Goiás and the Federal District, Brazil” received the Researcher Award and the text of Patricia Veloso et al., MSc student in GISOT of the Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon and FCT Project Grant Holder, with the text entitled “Telework in pandemic times: from the advantages to the uncertainties in the daily lives of families living in the Metropolitan Area of Northern Lisbon, Portugal” received the Young Researcher Award, awarded by the International Geographical Union – Health and Environment Commission.
We invite you to read these contributions.