BUILDING EUROPE’S CAMPUS FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
The Focus Area Health in Living Contexts: Urban & Rural Health explores the distinct challenges and opportunities that different living contexts present for individual and public health, as well as for animal and plant health. It examines how regional, urban and rural contexts shape health through the built environment, economic, social, cultural, structural, and policy-related factors. Special attention is given to the characteristics of urban and rural settings considering how they distinctly shape the conditions and contexts in which health is promoted or put at risk. It addresses the individual, sociocultural, socioeconomic, and environmental conditions of health, specific health concerns including basic research on infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases, and mental health, as well as role of healthcare systems and policies.
Urban health focuses on health conditions and outcomes shaped by the distinctive characteristics of urban living environments, as well as on the healthcare systems and policies that operate within these contexts. It examines how factors such as high population density, socioeconomic disparities, gentrification, the complexity of the built environment, sedentary lifestyle, and the diversity of populations living in cities influence health in cities.
Rural health focuses on health conditions and outcomes shaped by the distinctive characteristics of rural living environments, as well as on the healthcare systems and policies that operate within these settings. It examines how factors such as geographic isolation, limited access to healthcare, economic constraints, agricultural and aquacultural settings, and proximity to nature influence health across rural populations.