ABSTRACT
Situated in the discipline of health geography, this chapter examines maternal and child health issues at the interface of environmental health. Underpinned by the premise that one’s health and geographies are inextricably linked, this work draws from a case study in Ghana’s rural north to examine how precarious environments underscored by food insecurity, fluctuating climates, historically rooted inequality and poverty contribute towards dubious maternal and child health outcomes. This work comes in part as a response to the global failures in addressing maternal and child health problems, which have led some to declare that global health is “tipping into irrelevance”. While global maternal and child health movements have tended to produce programmes blind to these interactions, we draw from health geography and perspectives of political ecology to argue for a reawakening in health policy and research praxis that engages equally with environmental issues, and indeed recognises that maternal and child health cannot be realised without addressing the health of place.
