THE STATE OF HEALTH ATLAS by...

THE STATE OF HEALTH ATLAS by Judith MacKay (Touchstone: $16; 128 pp., illustrated, paperback original). Mackay uses maps, diagrams and prose to explicate the ongoing battle for human health. The ominous image of a dark shadow falling over a map of Asia to illustrate the shift in rates of HIV infection (Asia is expected to overtake Sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the decade) demonstrates the effectiveness of presenting this information visually. Although much of the news is grim, some maps reveal that progress has been made in recent years against childhood diseases. Unfortunately, the text suffers from the author’s efforts to maintain a politically correct multicultural posture, especially in the discussions of “Western medicine” and “complimentary medicine,” which suggest that the scientific treatment of illness is no more valid than such traditional practices as shamanism.