A Healthier, Smarter World
 
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Four units in this theme explore the issues of population growth and the spread of disease around the world. Population growth is one of the world's most complicated, contested, and misunderstood geographical issues. A ' geographical perspective on population growth involves looking at many different facets of the population debate, focusing on the relationship between population growth and food security (looking at agricultural production, access and distribution of food, and whether or not population growth negatively impacts agriculture), women's rights and education (looking at consequences of population control, and the roles of women in different world regions), and environmental degradation. The specific units include population growth in India (Chapter 8)-focusing on questions of gender inequality, reproductive health issues, food security, and the impacts and effectiveness of population control policies; and Chinese food security (Chapter 9)-focusing specifically on the question of whether China's population growth is outstripping its capacity to increase food production domestically. Two other units address issues related to health and disease. In one, the case of SARS in China is examined (Chapter 9) as an example of the relationship between globalization and epidemics (also featured in "A Globalizing World"). In the other, we explore the impact that AIDS is having in Sub-Saharan Africa (Chapter 7). These units remind us that despite overall improvements in access to and distribution of healthcare worldwide, we are not invulnerable to the emergence of new, poorly understood diseases (like SARS). They also remind us that while many of the world's worst diseases are thought to be well controlled, many new diseases continue to ravage large portions of the world. World Regional Geography not only highlights the differential nature of health and disease around the world, but puts into focus the connections between regions that enable the spread of diseases.

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