Comparing Human Geography in London and Haiti Cholera Outbreaks - Research Proposal Example

The origin of the pathogen was traced back to the British soldiers who were returning from Asia. In Haiti, the earthquake in 2010 was a great turn of events (Farmer, 24). As the country recovered from the spoils, with the support of volunteers from all over the world, there was a cholera outbreak that infected more than 8000 people, leaving at least 5000 of them dead (Hogg, 65). It is interesting that the origin of the pathogen, even in the case of Haiti was not from within. The circumstances that led to the massive mortality are also similar.

Although separated by more than one and a half centuries, the two tales have much in common (Nair, 49). This research seeks to establish a spatial relationship of the two cities, London in 1830 and Haiti in 2010 with the aim of making a spatial analysis of the conditions in the two cases that could have led to the outbreaks and inability to control them (Shah scientificamerican.com). This will lead to the possible development of important lessons that can be learned from the relationship and the comparison to enhance future responses.                                                                                                    

The question that this research seeks to answer is; what are the human geography factors that contributed to the outbreak and spread of cholera in London and Haiti?

This research will be in the form of spatial analysis. This being a qualitative study, the information will be obtained from the internet on cholera and its relationship with the geographical environment. This is likely to be obtained from medical websites such as WHO and CDC websites. Data is also to be obtained from news reports on the two cholera outbreaks and the relationship that exists in the two tales. Academic journal articles on the relationship between human geography and demographics on disease outbreak and control. These sources are most likely to provide both primary and secondary data for the research. This data will be analyzed systematically focusing on answering the research question. The analysis will compare the spatial characteristics of the two geographical locations and deduce a relationship that should be addressed. This is a relationship that will be tagged to the occurrence and spread of the disease and hence recommend ways in which a future incident can be avoided.

This analysis will require the use of SPSS software. This is statistical software that I am relatively competent in. However, I am currently taking advanced classes on the same to ensure full competence by the time the data will be collected and ready to be analyzed.