Environment and Health in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

This engaging book presents an insightful look into the contributing factors that have shaped the modern public health system in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Reflecting on the historical, socio-economic, and contemporary scenario of environment and public health, this book presents chapters that discuss the role of spatial patterns of diseases, health-risk patterns, contributions of medical missionaries in health services in Kashmir, changing disease ecology of Leh, and traditional medical therapy in Ladakh, among others.

This book also examines the cholera ecology in Kashmir during the 19th century, and the significance of Kangri ・ a portable traditional heat source ・ in cultural studies, economics, and cancer research. It investigates the role of traditional knowledge in the medical therapy of rural areas of Ladakh and the impact of urbanization on the quality of human health in Srinagar City. Besides, this book examines iodine deficiency disorders and the extension of vector-borne diseases. The essays also probe into the rising mental health concerns in post-pandemic Kashmir.

This book will be useful for students, researchers, and teachers of physical geography, human geography, environmental studies, public health, and health sciences. It will also be of interest to political geographers, sociologists, policymakers, and those interested in the issues related to health and environment in the region.

Prof. Rais Akhtar has taught at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; the University of Zambia, Lusaka; and the University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. He is the first geographer who published his research in medical geography and climate change and health in national and international journals, including the prestigious medical journal The Lancet. He has published to his credit more than 100 research papers and 21 books in India and abroad, including Greenwood Press, New York; Harwood Academic publisher, London; and Springer. His books include Health and Disease in Tropical Africa: Medical and Geographical Viewpoints (London, 1987), Health Care Patterns and Planning in Developing Countries (1990), Malaria in South Asia (2010), Climate Change and Human Health Scenario in South and Southeast Asia (2016), Climate Change and Air Pollution (2018), Extreme Weather Events and Human Health (2020), Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreaks, Environment and Human Behaviour (2021) and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreaks, Vaccination, Politics and Society: The Continuing Challenge (2022). Prof. Rais Akhtar is the recipient of a number of international fellowships including Leverhulme Overseas Visiting Fellow (University of Liverpool); Henry Chapman Fellow, University of London; Commonwealth Secretariat Fellowship, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, London; Visiting Fellow, University of Sussex and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine; Royal Society Short Visiting Fellowship, University of Oxford; Visiting Professor, University of Paris, Nanterre, Paris-10; Visiting Fellowship, Free University of Brussels, Belgium; French Government Visiting Fellowship and MSH Visiting Fellow, Paris; Visiting Fellow, Welcome Trust, London; and Visiting Lecturer, University of Akron, USA.