This new health atlas of Japan presents a series of maps about the health of the contemporary Japanese population, i.e. detailed maps of health indicators in small areas using cartograms. This is the first comprehensive small-area based health atlas about contemporary Japan using vital statistics from 1995-2014. Each map is supplemented with concise explanations written by leading epidemiologists and health geographers in Japan. The book employs various cutting-edge methods in spatial epidemiology, Bayesian spatial smoothing for the reliable mapping of mortality indices, advanced cartographic transformations using the concept of aerial cartograms, and summary statistics of socioeconomic health inequalities. The atlas highlights geographical aspects of social gradients in health by comparing mortality maps with distribution of deprivation index during the recent long-lasting economic stagnation period of Japan known as the lost decades. This health atlas will be a useful resource for international comparisons between Japan and other advanced countries in terms of health and related socioeconomic disparities between regions. It will be of interest to public health practitioners, administrators, researchers and students working on health geography and public health.

This new health atlas of Japan presents a series of maps about the health of the contemporary Japanese population, i.e. detailed maps of health indicators in small areas using cartograms. This is the first comprehensive small-area based health atlas about contemporary Japan using vital statistics from 1995-2014. Each map is supplemented with concise explanations written by leading epidemiologists and health geographers in Japan. The book employs various cutting-edge methods in spatial epidemiology, Bayesian spatial smoothing for the reliable mapping of mortality indices, advanced cartographic transformations using the concept of aerial cartograms, and summary statistics of socioeconomic health inequalities. The atlas highlights geographical aspects of social gradients in health by comparing mortality maps with distribution of deprivation index during the recent long-lasting economic stagnation period of Japan known as the lost decades. This health atlas will be a useful resource for international comparisons between Japan and other advanced countries in terms of health and related socioeconomic disparities between regions. It will be of interest to public health practitioners, administrators, researchers and students working on health geography and public health.

Health Inequalities in Japan brings together the expertise of Japan's leading social epidemiologists in English for the first time. Providing a balanced perspective on the determinants of wellbeing and illness, it gives a valuable insight into the epidemiological underpinnings of one of the world's healthiest populaces.

Gender inequality holds back not just women but the economic and social development of entire societies. This atlas presents a new measure of gender inequality which examines women’s status according to family situation, physical integrity, son preference, civil liberties and ownership rights.

How will the world's largest population approach its inequality challenges? This volume addresses this question by unraveling different strands of India's emerging health and gender geographies. It is the first book to offer a comparative study of these disparities in India, stressing the deep interaction between health challenges and patriarchal features. Most themes explored in this book illustrate the entangled nature of the social and regional determinants of gender and health imbalances in India. Through its rich cartography of contemporary India, the book represents the first Atlas exploiting district-level figures drawn from the latest sociodemographic survey conducted in 2019-21. After an initial methodological synopsis, the book is built around twenty chapters—illustrated by 75 original maps, figures, and tables prepared by thirty authors—and concludes with a synthesis of India's spatial patterns. Chapters engage with major themes of gender and health inequalities and explore an array of innovative indicators such as access to menstrual hygiene, cesarean deliveries, health insurance, son preference in fertility, female landownership, patrilocal systems, hypertension, anemia, hysterectomy, girl-only or single-child families, or traditional contraception. Together, they provide an often surprising glimpse into the present and future of India's gender and health landscape, highlighting the considerable progress accomplished over the last two decades alongside persistent gaps and emerging issues.

In early 2007, the Institute of Medicine convened the Roundtable on Health Disparities to increase the visibility of racial and ethnic health disparities as a national problem, to further the development of programs and strategies to reduce disparities, to foster the emergence of leadership on this issue, and to track promising activities and developments in health care that could lead to dramatically reducing or eliminating disparities. The Roundtable's first workshop, Challenges and Successes in Reducing Health Disparities, was held in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 31, 2007, and examined (1) the importance of differences in life expectancy within the United States, (2) the reasons for those differences, and (3) the implications of this information for programs and policy makers.

This book provides a critical understanding of contemporary issues within global society and how these relate to six case study examples (UK, USA, China, India, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Japan). The authors draw on their diverse experience to explore four major themes of contemporary relevance: overall aging of societies; governance and institutions; emergency services and public health provisions; and community activism and involvement. The key issues within the book--sociability, social capital, and community development--are examined in the context of an ever increasing aging world. The authors' sense of optimism is linked to growing evidence that community activism is on the rise and can effectively plug the gap between public need and provision of service.