The National Symposium of Health Geography brings together the academic community, managers and professionals interested in thematics related to health and geographical space. Since its first edition, which took place in 2003 in the city of Presidente Prudente, São Paulo State, Brazil, the event has significant presence of Latin American researchers. From its third edition, the event began to occur together with the International Forum of Health Geography, which broadened the participation of Europeans, North Americans, Africans and Oceanics. These biannual symposia and forums, also known as "GeoHealth", are recognized by the international scientific community for the fruitful debates that are developed by the diversity of challenges, experiences and subsidies for decision making by managers from different countries.

The interrelationship between the scientific knowledge of the health/disease processes and geographical space has as its starting point the inter and transdisciplinary approaches, with emphasis on the articulations between the disciplines of several areas of knowledge, as Collective Health, Geography, Psychology, Nutrition, Nursing, Biology, Social Sciences, Medicine, History, among others.

The realization of the event at the Federal University of Grande Dourados (Dourados, Mato Grosso do Sul state), situated in the frontier region between Brazil and Paraguay, motivated the choice of theme " Health on the Border and the Frontier(s) of Health", focus of the VIII GeoHealth. This theme considers the geographic context of Brazil's extensive international frontier and the need to broaden the understanding of health-disease processes through different frontiers of knowledge, ethnic, geographical, otherness, humanity. The expected results of the 8th edition of GeoHealth are: deepening the theoretical-practical discussions of Geography and Health, strengthening national and international networks of researchers, and exchanging experiences from different contexts.