This book summarizes recent advances in medical geology research (past 10 years), highlighting successes and future directions. Africa's growing awareness of the link between geological factors and disease drives this rapid evolution. Despite increasing research, dedicated resources and mentors remain scarce. Recent research focuses on the circulation of both beneficial and harmful elements in the environment and their entry into the food chain, impacting human health through complex metabolic processes. Understanding these processes, like metal metabolism, is crucial for elucidating disease aetiology, particularly for poorly understood conditions. Biogeochemical factors like bioavailability and dose-response relationships are also explored, demonstrating the multidisciplinary nature of medical geology and its role in clinical diagnosis.

Autorentext

Theophilus Clavell Davies received his B.Sc. (Geology and Chemistry) at the University of Sierra Leone before moving over to the University of Wales, Great Britain, where he completed both his M.Sc. (Geochemistry) and Ph.D. (Applied Geochemistry) degrees. He is a research professor (Environmental and Medical Geology), a chartered geologist, and an environmental consultant, currently based at the Mangosuthu University of Technology in South Africa. Formerly Council Member and Trustee of the Geological Society of London (1996-2000), he is presently a regional councillor for Africa of the Association of Applied Geochemists (AAG), former member of the Supervisory Board of the International Medical Geology Association (IMGA), Member of the Scientific Committee of the UNESCO International Centre for Global-Scale Geochemistry (ICGG) and Former Member of the IUGS Commission on Geosciences for Environmental Management (GEM).