Cover Art

“The World Health Map”

Odra Noel, Scientific Artist (odranoel.eu). Painted on Silk

By Hannah Notess (hnotess@spu.edu)

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This map represents each continent with the types of body cells affected by leading causes of disease in those areas. North America, with rising obesity, is depicted with fat tissue; Central and South America, with lung tissue for pulmonary disease; Europe with brain tissue for neurogenerative diseases; the Middle East and Central Asia with cardiac muscle tissue for heart disease; East Asia and the Pacific with pancreatic tissue for diabetes; and Africa in blood cells, representing infections such as malaria and HIV.

"The good news is, we have medicines and other treatments to cure, alleviate, prevent or slow down the progression of all these diseases," says artist Odra Noel.

The map was displayed at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition in London in the summer of 2013.