AWARD YEAR
2023
CATEGORY
Play & Learning
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being, Reduced Inequality, Trust, Tolerance & Empathy
KEYWORDS
illustration , Medical Innovation, medical students, black women, minorities
COUNTRY
Nigeria
DESIGNED BY
Chidiebere Ibe
WEBSITE
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/13/health/chidiebere-ibe-medical-illustrations-published-nigeria-spc-intl/index.html
Black Medical Illustrations
Turning a gap in medical representation into a viral conversation
How does it work?
In December 2021, an illustration of a Black fetus in the womb went viral with many people. For many it was the first time they saw a medical illustration of a black pregnant woman and a fetus.
They were done by a Nigerian-born medical student named Chidiebere Ibe. He makes these illustrations to bring awareness to a lack of diversity within these illustrations.
Why is it needed?
These illustrations are mostly found in textbooks and scientific journals to show medical pathologies and procedures.
Ibe has told CNN that a lack of illustrations of skin conditions in Black skin makes it hard for medical students to diagnose them.
Also, a 2014 study by researchers at the University of Wollongong in Australia examined gender bias in anatomy textbooks and found that of more than 6,000 images with an identifiable sex published between 2008 and 2013 in 17 textbooks, the vast majority were white and just over a third were female. About 3% showed disabled bodies and 2% featured elderly people.
How does it improve life?
In January 2022, Ibe was invited to have some of his illustrations published in the second edition of a handbook designed to show how a range of conditions appear on dark skin.