Welcome

H. Blaise Nguendo Yongsi was born and raised in Yabassi, Nkondjock and Douala – Cameroon. He earned his B. Ed. at Laurentian University (Sudbury – Canada), his B.A. and M.A. at Yaoundé University (Cameroon), his M.Sc. at the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne (France), and his Ph.D. at Paris-X- France. His doctoral dissertation investigated risks factors of diarrheal diseases among young children in Cameroon. He has a longstanding interest in Human and regional geography at the local and international scales. Given this interest, it seemed natural to him that he would become interested in questions of health, since public health is a major part of local governments in Africa. . His areas of specialization encompass environment and health, population health (geography of diseases and health care systems) and epidemiology of communicable diseases. Nguendo Yongsi’s work involves an integrative understanding of the broad determinants of population health and research on environment and health linkages.

From 2000 to 2007, he has empirically focused on the spatial disparities of communicable diseases and access to health care in Cameroon. Interested in the human health impacts of environmental exposure, his recent work in this area involves examining the links between drinking water and health outcomes. Nguendo Yongsi believes in the complementarity of quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis. A growing interest in the explanation of the human face of disease and health status has led him to investigate the socio-cultural aspects of health in a variety of African settings using humanistic theories and qualitative methods. Recently published research has been funded by the Institut de Recherche pour le développement (IRD) and by the Pasteur Institute on topics including: relationship of social and physical environments to variation in health and well-being of children, and explanative factors in the use of street drugs in Cameroon. Nguendo Yongsi has served as Research Professional at Observatoire pour le vieillissement et la société – Centre de recherche interuniversitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal and as Professor of Epidemiology and Health geography at the University of Chicoutimi. He has also initiated numerous conferences and workshops on topical issues pertaining to Africa, and has encouraged the active involvement of student associations in the organization of scholarly events and community outreach programs. His publications include papers in Canadian journal of regional sciences, Archives of Medical Research, International journal of social sciences, Natures Sciences et sociétés, Journal of population health and nutrition, and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.