Geopolitics and health are interrelated. Geopolitical factors like governments, geography, policies, and relationships between countries determine health. Understanding these determinants can help create policies to improve global health. Key geopolitical determinants of health include population growth, climate change, corruption, conflicts, and violence. Addressing geopolitical factors can help understand differences in health outcomes and data between countries. Geopolitical perspectives are important for making informed health decisions.

1. GEOPOLITICS AND
HEALTH
ANUSREE PRABHAKARAN
P191502

2. GEOPOITICS
• The term ‘’geopolitics’’ was first coined by Swedish political scientist Rudolf
Kjellen in the 20th century.
• Geo – usually stands for ‘geography’, also means ‘World’.
• Politics – Power, Distribution
• The term is currently used as a synonym for International political relations.
• Geopolitics is the study ofWORLD – POWER – DISTRIBUTION

3. • Geopolitics is the analysis of geographic influences on power relationships
in international relationss
• Geopolitics mainly deals with relations between the interests of
International actors focused within an area or space.

4. HOW GEOPOLITICS WORKS?
• Two or more actors, separated geographically ; either in different countries or
continents.
• They must be aware of each other
• All the actors should have the ability to interact with each other.
• Example :Trade, Pollution, Immigration
• If a country pollute a river flowing through other countries, then it will become a
big political issue.There will be treaties, policies and agreements between these
countries.

5. GEOPOLITICS AND HEALTH
• Health is determined by geopolitical factors like Governments, geographies,
policies, interests of countries and relationships between them.
• Understanding the geopolitical determinants can help to create evidence,
advocacy and policy actions to improve global health.
• Geopolitics is concerned with studying foreign policy to understand international
political behavior through geographic variables.
• Health is a strong tool for creating foreign policies because it is irrespective of race,
religion and politics.

6. • Global health is a Geopolitical issue.
• Health is having big importance in the context of Globalization.
• Public health problems are linked to political economy.
• Diseases can negatively affect the stability of Countries, affecting
International security.
• Actors in health, foreign policy and security have great interest in public
health interventions as a mean to achieve geopolitical stability.

7. • According to National Intelligence Council 2000 report, the burden of infectious
diseases can worsen the economy, cause social fragmentation, political
destabilization in the most affected countries.
• This impact make it difficult for the political powers to manage the scarce
resourced states
• Report by International Crisis Group 2001 suggests that the risk HIV present to the
political stability and security is similar to that of a war.
• Negative impact of HIV on economy, social cohesion, political institutions are more
serious than other diseases because it mainly affect the poor class.

8. • Lack of proper Governance results in political conflicts, results in disorders it will
facilitate the spread of pandemics.
• SARS Epidemic is an important incident in the Geopolitics of diseases.
• Authorities of China hide the information about the spread of disease,
• Information spread through news and social media.
• China acknowledged the disease but minimize its severity.
• Finally, China accepted the severity and co-operated with WHO andTaiwan
controlling the disease.

9. • Efforts and responses to control the SARS outbreak revealed that global
health networks are crucial for controlling diseases spread.
• Hence geopolitics have a crucial role in controlling diseases and improving
health of the people.

10. GEOPOLITICAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH
POPULATION GROWTH
• The world population is increasing in a faster rate.
• In 1800, the world population was one billion, in 2018, It was 7 billion and is
expected to reach 8 billion in 2024.
• A high increase in population negatively affects the health of the existing
population and the new population as well.

11. CLIMATE CHANGE
• Global climate change results in large economic, health, environmental and
social consequences.
• The impact is very severe in Low and Middle-Income Countries.
• Climate change results in hurricanes, floods, crop failure, which in turn
results in a large migration of people within and across countries.

12. CORRUPTION
• Corruption, both political and social and social inequality are closely related.
• Corruption leads to unequal distribution of power in the society leading to unequal
distribution of wealth and opportunity
• Between 1980 and 2016, the top 1% income earners in the world captured 27% of
the total economic growth.
• 10% of the richest households are owning 88% of the global economy.
• This inequity is evident in the case of access to healthcare.

13. CONFLICTS
• Globally, political conflicts have increased and destroyed lives, cities, history
and cultural artefacts, etc.
• UN data shows that, as of 2016, there were 402 conflicts in the world.
• Unregulated Government facilitate the growth of terrorism in countries.
• Stabilizing the failed geographies are needed to eliminate terrorism and
conflicts.

14. VIOLENCE
• Violence is a major determinant of health.
• Reducing violence is critical to ensure the public health and public mental health
• Understanding health in terms of geopolitical perspectives help to identify state,
regional violence
• Preventing and responding to violent conflicts within and between countries are
related to public health policies.

15. • Geopolitical determinants affect social determinants of health.
• Social determinants include poverty, unemployment, urbanization,
industrialization, climate change, migration, etc.
• Geopolitical factors mainly affect the mental health of people.
• To address the geopolitical determinants of health, health system should be
culturally sensitive.
• Mental health needs to be a part of impact assessment in all health policies.

16. CONCLUSION
• Focusing more on geopolitical determinants of health can help to understand
individual health outcome as a product of National policies at local and regional
levels.
• It will also help to understand whether these policies are influenced by
geographical factors, political leadership, relationship with neighboring states, etc.
• Example: Understanding the ways by which different countries respond to the
Covid-19 pandemic, how different countries count the deaths, measure the health
outcome, etc. helps to understand differences in availability, scope and impact of
health data and surveillance within countries.
• Understanding the geopolitical perspective of health can help to make more
informed decisions on health.

17. REFERENCES
• Ingram,A., 2005.The new geopolitics of disease: between global health and global
security. Geopolitics, 10(3), pp.522-545.
• Persaud, A., Bhat, P.S.,Ventriglio,A. and Bhugra, D., 2018. Geopolitical determinants of
health. Industrial psychiatry journal, 27(2), p.308.
• https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/99/2/20-
254904/en/#:~:text=Geopolitical%20perspectives%20on%20health%20include,of%20test
%20and%20trace%20programmes.
• https://study.com/academy/lesson/geopolitics-definition-foundations-example.html
• https://www.britannica.com/topic/geopolitics

18. THANKYOU