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Mapping Health
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Menu

About
Education
Research
Projects
Music
Mapping Health
Connect with me

@ mappinghealth

Do check out & follow my IG channel, where I explore the impact of geography on health & disease

Bugs, bites, and borders Maybe my interest in thi

Bugs, bites, and borders

Maybe my interest in this comes from being vaccinated for Yellow Fever before traveling to Africa, being a tick magnet in Sweden and getting vaccinated for Lymes disease , and getting a Typhoid shot in India. Each shot was a reminder of how geography can shape disease , how something as small as a mosquito or tick can symbolize entire ecosystems and histories of migration, travel, and climate.

From the kissing bugs of Latin America to monkey fever in Karnataka, vector-borne diseases remind us that protecting health starts with understanding the world around us.

#MappingHealth #VectorBorneDiseases#Travel #HealthGeography #globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Once a 19th-century coastal cure, Seaweed baths al

Once a 19th-century coastal cure, Seaweed baths along Ireland’s rugged coast combine tradition and nature in a uniquely soothing way. Warm water infused with freshly harvested seaweed is supposed to release minerals like iodine and magnesium, believed to ease pains and aches.

⚠️ Disclaimer: These remedies are shared for cultural and educational purposes only. They are not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before trying any remedy.

#MappingHealth #GlobalWellness #SeaweedRemedies #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #ireland🍀

77 million Indians live with diabetes today, many

77 million Indians live with diabetes today, many developing it younger and at lower weights than in the West.
India’s diabetes story might not be just about sugar.
According to the thrifty gene hypothesis, human bodies in this part of the world, faced with periodic famine and scarcity due to uncertain monsoons, learned to store every bit of energy in good times, a “thrifty” adaptation for tough times.
But today, surrounded by abundance, those same genes make the entire population more vulnerable to diabetes.
Genes selected over millennia to help survive in this geography meet new lifestyles.

#DiabetesAwareness #GeographyOfHealth #ThriftyGene #IndiaHealth #PublicHealth #mappinghealth#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Cabbage as a Remedy? In parts of Eastern Europe,

Cabbage as a Remedy?

In parts of Eastern Europe, people have long wrapped cabbage leaves around sore joints or swollen areas as a natural anti-inflammatory remedy.

What research says:
Small clinical trials in Europe found cabbage leaf wraps may help reduce knee pain and swelling.
Lab studies show compounds in cabbage have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
But the evidence is still limited and early. More research is needed to confirm long-term benefits.
Have you ever heard of or tried cabbage wraps for pain?

⚠️ Disclaimer
This post is for educational purposes only. While cabbage leaf wraps have shown potential benefits in small studies, they are not a substitute for medical treatment. Always consult a healthcare provider before trying new remedies, especially if you have underlying conditions.

#LesserKnownRemedies #ScienceMeetsTradition #MappingHealth #AncientHealing#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #polska🇵🇱

Blueberry Remedy Did you know that in Nordic tra

Blueberry Remedy

Did you know that in Nordic traditions, blueberry soup has been used for generations to soothe digestion and boost immunity?

This is the first feature in my new series “Lesser-Known Home Remedies” on @MappingHealth, where we explore unique, culturally-rooted health practices from around the world.

⚠️ Disclaimer: These remedies are shared for cultural and educational purposes only. They are not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before trying any remedy.

#MappingHealth #GlobalWellness #BlueberryRemedies #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #sweden🇸🇪

In our last posts, we explored how ancient medical

In our last posts, we explored how ancient medical systems like Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and Greek traditions shaped the way we think about health. But many of those ideas didn’t just stay in history books. They live on today in simple home remedies passed down through families.
Some of these are now backed by science, others are still being studied, but all of them remind us how tradition and research often meet at the same table.
Which remedy from your family’s kitchen do you still trust?

#AncientHealing #ScienceMeetsTradition #MappingHealth #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

The Age of Discovery in Medicine Between the lat

The Age of Discovery in Medicine
Between the late 1600s and early 1800s, Europe entered a new era of scientific curiosity and innovation. Observation, experimentation, and evidence began replacing tradition and superstition, transforming how people understood the human body, disease, and healing.

This wasn’t a sudden leap. After Avicenna’s time, medical knowledge continued to grow across the world. Ibn al-Nafis in the Islamic world described pulmonary circulation, Vesalius transformed anatomy in Renaissance Europe, Li Shizhen compiled China’s great herbal encyclopaedia, and Indigenous healers in the Americas shared plant remedies like cinchona bark for malaria. These discoveries, mixed with centuries of cross-cultural exchange, laid the foundation for the breakthroughs of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution: vaccines, germ theory, anaesthetics, and safer surgery.

Take my quiz to know how many of these advances you are familiar with!

#HistoryOfMedicine #GlobalHealth #Enlightenment #MedicalHistory #ScienceQuiz #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Image credits: Wellcome Collection (CC BY 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Source: BBC Bitesize

In the Islamic world , Al-Rāzī, a pioneering physi

In the Islamic world , Al-Rāzī, a pioneering physician of Islamic medicine, built on and challenged Galenic ideas, emphasizing individualized care, hygiene, and disease differentiation. Avicenna, also called as Ibn Sina, one of the most famous physicains of the Arabic world, diagnosed diseases, explained infections, and even wrote about mental health, long before the modern era.” His tomb is still visited in Hamadan, Iran, and there’s even an Avicenna Medical University. Many of his described plants are still used in Unani medicine, which is based on Greco-Arabic traditions. Avicenna teaches us that true healing needs knowledge, observation, and humanity. His life is a reminder that science and spirituality don’t have to clash. They can work together for the betterment of society.

#Avicenna #IbnSina #HistoryOfMedicine #AncientWisdom #MedievalScience #IslamicGoldenAge #CanonOfMedicine #MedicalPioneer #mappinghealth #globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Lesson from Hippocrates: Your health is not just a

Lesson from Hippocrates:
Your health is not just about your body. It’s also about what you are exposed to.
So next time you think about health, think like Hippocrates:
What’s in your air, water, food? How does your environment shape your well-being?

#Hippocrates #GlobalHealth #Geography #EnvironmentalHealth #PublicHealth #AncientWisdom

The genius of Sushruta : Ancient Indian Cataract S

The genius of Sushruta : Ancient Indian Cataract Surgery and beyond!
In this 18th–19th-century painting, an Indian surgeon performs an early form of cataract surgery called couching!
Sushruta, often called the Father of Surgery, lived around 600 BCE in India and authored the Sushruta Samhita, one of the world’s oldest surgical manuals.
His text detailed over 300 surgical procedures, 120 surgical instruments, and innovative techniques like skin grafting, rhinoplasty (nose reconstruction), and of course, cataract surgery.
In couching, the surgeon used a fine, curved needle (jabamukhi śalāka) to displace the clouded lens, restoring partial sight, an incredible achievement for the time.
His holistic approach provided step by step instructions for surgery, diet, ethics and patient care through the procedure and upto complete recovery
This image, from the Wellcome Collection, shows how Sushruta’s legacy lived on for millennia, with his techniques still practiced in parts of the Global South even into the 21st century!
📸 Image Credit: Wellcome Collection | Public Domain
#Ancientmedicine #MappingHealth #GlobalMedicine #HumanIngenuity #HistoryNerds #AncientIndia #ayurveda #Sushruta

Disclaimer: This post is for fun educational purposes only. These practices may not be considered safe by modern medical practices. Always consult qualified medical professionals for any health concerns.

In the early 1870s, that German Egyptologist Georg

In the early 1870s, that German Egyptologist Georg Ebers chanced upon an ancient scroll in Luxor, Egypt, in the hands of an antiquities dealer, who had probably received it from the famous American Egyptologist Edwin Smith.
In 1873, Ebers brought the 20 meter long scroll to Leipzig, and published its contents in 1875, revealing one of the most detailed medical texts from ancient Egypt.
Dated around 1550 BCE, the Ebers Papyrus documents over 800 treatments, spells and incantations, folk remedies and magic formulas. While some of these were copied from earlier texts, the Ebers Papyrus is one of the most comprehensive records from ancient Egypt.
Isn’t it fascinating that around the same time, people in Egypt, India and China were discovering scientific treatments that steadily started to replace belief based remedies.
📖 What’s inside?
– 842 remedies & magical formulas
– Treatments for everything from asthma and diabetes to dental problems and wounds
– A fascinating blend of science & spirituality: herbs, honey, crocodile dung (yes, after all its Egypt!), and prayers
Today, this scroll, more than 20 meters long, rests at the Leipzig University Library, offering a window into how ancient Egyptians understood health and healing.
#EbersPapyrus #HistoryOfMedicine #AncientEgypt #MedicalHistory #MappingHealth

In ancient Indian culture, health wasn’t just a pe

In ancient Indian culture, health wasn’t just a personal asset. It was seen as the foundation of all prosperity, both spiritual and material. In the Indian mythological story where Gods and demons are at a tug of war, Dhanvantari, the god of healing, emerges from the ocean before Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth symbolizing that health comes before material riches, a powerful visual metaphor from Hindu mythology.
Two foundational texts shaped traditional ayurveda:
The Charaka Samhita focused on internal medicine, balance of doshas, diet, and mind-body harmony.
The Sushruta Samhit is where surgery got serious! It described 300+ surgical procedures, 120 tools, and even plastic surgery, like nose reconstruction using skin flaps!
#AncientMedicine #IndianMedicine #Ayurveda #HerbalMedicine #HistoryOfHealing #MappingHealth #Doshas #HolisticHealth #india

Follow on Instagram

@ mappinghealth

Do check out & follow my IG channel, where I explore the impact of geography on health & disease

Bugs, bites, and borders Maybe my interest in thi

Bugs, bites, and borders

Maybe my interest in this comes from being vaccinated for Yellow Fever before traveling to Africa, being a tick magnet in Sweden and getting vaccinated for Lymes disease , and getting a Typhoid shot in India. Each shot was a reminder of how geography can shape disease , how something as small as a mosquito or tick can symbolize entire ecosystems and histories of migration, travel, and climate.

From the kissing bugs of Latin America to monkey fever in Karnataka, vector-borne diseases remind us that protecting health starts with understanding the world around us.

#MappingHealth #VectorBorneDiseases#Travel #HealthGeography #globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Once a 19th-century coastal cure, Seaweed baths al

Once a 19th-century coastal cure, Seaweed baths along Ireland’s rugged coast combine tradition and nature in a uniquely soothing way. Warm water infused with freshly harvested seaweed is supposed to release minerals like iodine and magnesium, believed to ease pains and aches.

⚠️ Disclaimer: These remedies are shared for cultural and educational purposes only. They are not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before trying any remedy.

#MappingHealth #GlobalWellness #SeaweedRemedies #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #ireland🍀

77 million Indians live with diabetes today, many

77 million Indians live with diabetes today, many developing it younger and at lower weights than in the West.
India’s diabetes story might not be just about sugar.
According to the thrifty gene hypothesis, human bodies in this part of the world, faced with periodic famine and scarcity due to uncertain monsoons, learned to store every bit of energy in good times, a “thrifty” adaptation for tough times.
But today, surrounded by abundance, those same genes make the entire population more vulnerable to diabetes.
Genes selected over millennia to help survive in this geography meet new lifestyles.

#DiabetesAwareness #GeographyOfHealth #ThriftyGene #IndiaHealth #PublicHealth #mappinghealth#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Cabbage as a Remedy? In parts of Eastern Europe,

Cabbage as a Remedy?

In parts of Eastern Europe, people have long wrapped cabbage leaves around sore joints or swollen areas as a natural anti-inflammatory remedy.

What research says:
Small clinical trials in Europe found cabbage leaf wraps may help reduce knee pain and swelling.
Lab studies show compounds in cabbage have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects.
But the evidence is still limited and early. More research is needed to confirm long-term benefits.
Have you ever heard of or tried cabbage wraps for pain?

⚠️ Disclaimer
This post is for educational purposes only. While cabbage leaf wraps have shown potential benefits in small studies, they are not a substitute for medical treatment. Always consult a healthcare provider before trying new remedies, especially if you have underlying conditions.

#LesserKnownRemedies #ScienceMeetsTradition #MappingHealth #AncientHealing#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #polska🇵🇱

Blueberry Remedy Did you know that in Nordic tra

Blueberry Remedy

Did you know that in Nordic traditions, blueberry soup has been used for generations to soothe digestion and boost immunity?

This is the first feature in my new series “Lesser-Known Home Remedies” on @MappingHealth, where we explore unique, culturally-rooted health practices from around the world.

⚠️ Disclaimer: These remedies are shared for cultural and educational purposes only. They are not medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before trying any remedy.

#MappingHealth #GlobalWellness #BlueberryRemedies #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs #sweden🇸🇪

In our last posts, we explored how ancient medical

In our last posts, we explored how ancient medical systems like Ayurveda, Chinese medicine, and Greek traditions shaped the way we think about health. But many of those ideas didn’t just stay in history books. They live on today in simple home remedies passed down through families.
Some of these are now backed by science, others are still being studied, but all of them remind us how tradition and research often meet at the same table.
Which remedy from your family’s kitchen do you still trust?

#AncientHealing #ScienceMeetsTradition #MappingHealth #HomeRemedies#globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

The Age of Discovery in Medicine Between the lat

The Age of Discovery in Medicine
Between the late 1600s and early 1800s, Europe entered a new era of scientific curiosity and innovation. Observation, experimentation, and evidence began replacing tradition and superstition, transforming how people understood the human body, disease, and healing.

This wasn’t a sudden leap. After Avicenna’s time, medical knowledge continued to grow across the world. Ibn al-Nafis in the Islamic world described pulmonary circulation, Vesalius transformed anatomy in Renaissance Europe, Li Shizhen compiled China’s great herbal encyclopaedia, and Indigenous healers in the Americas shared plant remedies like cinchona bark for malaria. These discoveries, mixed with centuries of cross-cultural exchange, laid the foundation for the breakthroughs of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution: vaccines, germ theory, anaesthetics, and safer surgery.

Take my quiz to know how many of these advances you are familiar with!

#HistoryOfMedicine #GlobalHealth #Enlightenment #MedicalHistory #ScienceQuiz #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Image credits: Wellcome Collection (CC BY 4.0) and Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain)
Source: BBC Bitesize

In the Islamic world , Al-Rāzī, a pioneering physi

In the Islamic world , Al-Rāzī, a pioneering physician of Islamic medicine, built on and challenged Galenic ideas, emphasizing individualized care, hygiene, and disease differentiation. Avicenna, also called as Ibn Sina, one of the most famous physicains of the Arabic world, diagnosed diseases, explained infections, and even wrote about mental health, long before the modern era.” His tomb is still visited in Hamadan, Iran, and there’s even an Avicenna Medical University. Many of his described plants are still used in Unani medicine, which is based on Greco-Arabic traditions. Avicenna teaches us that true healing needs knowledge, observation, and humanity. His life is a reminder that science and spirituality don’t have to clash. They can work together for the betterment of society.

#Avicenna #IbnSina #HistoryOfMedicine #AncientWisdom #MedievalScience #IslamicGoldenAge #CanonOfMedicine #MedicalPioneer #mappinghealth #globalhealth #publichealth #HealthEquity #healthforall #SustainableDevelopmentGoals #healthcare #SDGs

Lesson from Hippocrates: Your health is not just a

Lesson from Hippocrates:
Your health is not just about your body. It’s also about what you are exposed to.
So next time you think about health, think like Hippocrates:
What’s in your air, water, food? How does your environment shape your well-being?

#Hippocrates #GlobalHealth #Geography #EnvironmentalHealth #PublicHealth #AncientWisdom

The genius of Sushruta : Ancient Indian Cataract S

The genius of Sushruta : Ancient Indian Cataract Surgery and beyond!
In this 18th–19th-century painting, an Indian surgeon performs an early form of cataract surgery called couching!
Sushruta, often called the Father of Surgery, lived around 600 BCE in India and authored the Sushruta Samhita, one of the world’s oldest surgical manuals.
His text detailed over 300 surgical procedures, 120 surgical instruments, and innovative techniques like skin grafting, rhinoplasty (nose reconstruction), and of course, cataract surgery.
In couching, the surgeon used a fine, curved needle (jabamukhi śalāka) to displace the clouded lens, restoring partial sight, an incredible achievement for the time.
His holistic approach provided step by step instructions for surgery, diet, ethics and patient care through the procedure and upto complete recovery
This image, from the Wellcome Collection, shows how Sushruta’s legacy lived on for millennia, with his techniques still practiced in parts of the Global South even into the 21st century!
📸 Image Credit: Wellcome Collection | Public Domain
#Ancientmedicine #MappingHealth #GlobalMedicine #HumanIngenuity #HistoryNerds #AncientIndia #ayurveda #Sushruta

Disclaimer: This post is for fun educational purposes only. These practices may not be considered safe by modern medical practices. Always consult qualified medical professionals for any health concerns.

In the early 1870s, that German Egyptologist Georg

In the early 1870s, that German Egyptologist Georg Ebers chanced upon an ancient scroll in Luxor, Egypt, in the hands of an antiquities dealer, who had probably received it from the famous American Egyptologist Edwin Smith.
In 1873, Ebers brought the 20 meter long scroll to Leipzig, and published its contents in 1875, revealing one of the most detailed medical texts from ancient Egypt.
Dated around 1550 BCE, the Ebers Papyrus documents over 800 treatments, spells and incantations, folk remedies and magic formulas. While some of these were copied from earlier texts, the Ebers Papyrus is one of the most comprehensive records from ancient Egypt.
Isn’t it fascinating that around the same time, people in Egypt, India and China were discovering scientific treatments that steadily started to replace belief based remedies.
📖 What’s inside?
– 842 remedies & magical formulas
– Treatments for everything from asthma and diabetes to dental problems and wounds
– A fascinating blend of science & spirituality: herbs, honey, crocodile dung (yes, after all its Egypt!), and prayers
Today, this scroll, more than 20 meters long, rests at the Leipzig University Library, offering a window into how ancient Egyptians understood health and healing.
#EbersPapyrus #HistoryOfMedicine #AncientEgypt #MedicalHistory #MappingHealth

In ancient Indian culture, health wasn’t just a pe

In ancient Indian culture, health wasn’t just a personal asset. It was seen as the foundation of all prosperity, both spiritual and material. In the Indian mythological story where Gods and demons are at a tug of war, Dhanvantari, the god of healing, emerges from the ocean before Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth symbolizing that health comes before material riches, a powerful visual metaphor from Hindu mythology.
Two foundational texts shaped traditional ayurveda:
The Charaka Samhita focused on internal medicine, balance of doshas, diet, and mind-body harmony.
The Sushruta Samhit is where surgery got serious! It described 300+ surgical procedures, 120 tools, and even plastic surgery, like nose reconstruction using skin flaps!
#AncientMedicine #IndianMedicine #Ayurveda #HerbalMedicine #HistoryOfHealing #MappingHealth #Doshas #HolisticHealth #india

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