This event discusses the role of urbanisation on disease development. It centres around the latest reports that specifically address the diabetes and obesity which are often portrayed as behavioural failures rather than complex multi-system dysregulations that urban life contributes towards.
The works that underpin this event are:
1.
Ecological Health
“health is a complex process involving not only the individual, but also their social interactions, other species and the external environment
2.
The History of Disease
“what's becoming clearer is that our modern environments are not suited to our biological architecture….this mismatch may explain why there is an increased prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity, and diabetes.”
3.
The Environmental Factors of Diabetes
“simply saying Black or Indigenous Peoples experience Type-2 diabetes at a higher rate, leaves room for further racialisation as it could add to the narrative of genetic determinism, which blames a person’s biological make-up for disease rather than considering ecological factors”
4.
Obesity & Trauma
“This report will take an ecological approach, focusing on the bidirectional pathway between trauma and obesity to highlight the disparity between scientific evidence and communication around obesity, as well as the psychosocial factors that contribute to, and maintain, this disparity. This is to ensure health organisations and policies support a holistic and equitable prevention strategy for obesity.”
5.
Depression as a Brain/Body Disease and its Links to Air Pollution
The take-away message is that mental and physical symptoms in depression, and any other disorder, cannot simply be separated. Mental and physical pathways of disease are intertwined—they always work together.
A summary of the reports will be given with the view to entering a conversation about thinking where and how to make systemic changes to this health injustice in policy, practice and more general society.
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We’ll send you the zoom link the morning of the event.