Medical geography
| Phone: | (99412) 5393361 |
| E-mail: | |
| Head of department: | Solmaz Isaq gizi Rzayeva |
| Total number of employees: | 7 |
| Main activity directions: | Department of “Medical Geography” was created in April 2016. The department was founded for the study of natural and geographical causes and characteristics of disease spread in Azerbaijan, impact of elements of the environment on human health. The department envisages studying the effect of the individual components of the natural and geographical environment on the occurrence of diseases in humans in Azerbaijan Republic, distribution of various chemical elements, areas of distribution of anthropogenic and technogenic landscapes and the study of their relationship with the spread of diseases among the population living in these territories. |
| Main scientific achievements: | In 2016, an employee of the department Rzayeva Solmaz Isak gyzy defended her dissertation thesis on the topic "The influence of the ecological and geographical environment on the formation and spread of oncological diseases (within the Republic of Azerbaijan)" in the specialty 5400.01 - "Economic geography". |
| Development of medical geography in Azerbaijan: | The development of medical geography in Azerbaijan, the section of economic geography of ANAS is due to the initiative of academician R. Mammado, the director of the Institute of Geography named after acad. H.A. Aliyev. Despite the great work done at the Institute of Geography, the field of medical geography, unfortunately, has not been developed. In April 2016, the Department of Medical Geography was opened at the Institute of Geography. Medical geography studies the geographical distribution of diseases, the causes of their spread, and the influence of the geographical environment on the health of the population. Medical geography is closely related to such areas of medical science as epidemiology, microbiology, hygiene, pathology, physical geography, landscape, climatology, soil geography, economic geography, social geography and population geography. People are exposed to the geographic environment in which they live, getting various chemicals from the food they eat. The fact that some of them are more or less than the physiological norm leads to various diseases, in most cases the normal functioning of organs is disrupted. Therefore, it is important to study the effect of various substances in the soil, plants or air on the human body. It is important to study the characteristics of the spread of diseases, natural and social factors in the health of people exposed to them. The geographical distribution of diseases depends on the composition of natural components that play a decisive role in shaping the human environment - climate, water, soil composition and, accordingly, the presence of certain chemical elements in food products. Social factors, such as material living conditions, the cultural and educational level of the population, traditional nutrition, as well as the functioning of the human body, the mode of work and the state of the body, cause in the process of its development the occurrence of such problems as cardiovascular diseases, intestinal infections, viral hepatitis, oncological diseases. For the first time in the Department of "Medical Geography" of the Institute of Geography, the influence of the ecological and geographical environment on the spread of cancer in Azerbaijan was studied. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in our country. In the modern world, cancer is not only a public health problem, but also a social, economic and environmental one. The disease is common in all age groups, socioeconomic groups, developed and developing countries. There is a great need to study the causes of cancer and ways to solve the problem. People are worried about the growth of various types of cancer. Environmental pollution, genetically modified foods, radiation and other causes directly contribute to the development of cancer. The increase in the number of people suffering from cancer in the country in modern times and the study of future changes, the identification of ways to solve problems in this area require research. |