Epidemiological transition and geographical discontinuities: the case of cardiovascular mortality in French Polynesia

The need to maintain the unity of geography justifies the use of every possible approach to the study of spatial discontinuities. The geography of health can be enriched by studying and applying routine methods of regional geography. To achieve this aim, the use of epidemiological transition theory, involving its transposition from the domain of time to space, is proposed. This requires careful analysis of sources of data not commonly used in geography and emphasizes links between health, environment and development. French Polynesia constitutes a prime study area for such an approach, especially because of its multiple contrasts in geographic scale and levels of development between the different archipelagoes and even within individual islands. To demonstrate the utility of this approach, cardiovascular mortality is studied at different geographic scales. Results are displayed as health spatiograms which show the discontinuities of human geography in French Polynesia at different scales. The results appear to constitute synthetic indicators of socio-spatial disparities and permit the geography of health to contribute not only to the measurement of regional health conditions but also to the matters of global human geography.