The Concept of Health in Atlas Mapping

The concept of “health” is a multidimensional phenomenon reflecting the idea of the physical and mental state of the body. This is one of the most important characteristics of society, closely related to economic and social development, demographic structure, the state of the environment, as well as the country’s public health management system. A special place in the information support for solving health problems is given to atlases, primarily those created based on health concepts. Through the example of some domestic and foreign atlas works, the features of public health mapping are considered. A review of health atlases of various purposes, territorial coverage, and subject matters showed: 1) the concept of “health” is cartographically represented by a significant number of general comprehensive and sectoral atlases; 2) the primary sources of information for preparing atlases and illustrating the concept of “health” remain statistical data; 3) the sections “Demography”, “The Natural and Social Environment”, and “Lifestyle and Risk Factors” are included in virtually all comprehensive health atlases; 4) a comprehensive analysis of regional health determinants and their cause-and-effect relationships requires the integration of supplementary, region-specific data sources; 5) the thematic coverage of atlas-based health mapping is achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration. The Medico-Geographical Atlas of Russia “Population Health”, currently under development at the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University, constitutes a continuation of a series of previously published medical-geographical atlases. The conceptual framework of the Atlas is based on new approaches in medical geography, moving “from the geography of disease to the geography of health”.

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