I’m sure the only time most of us have seen medical illustrations was during a biology class or a visit to the doctor. It's rare for medical illustrations to go viral. But last week, medical drawings were shared across social media.
These illustrations went viral because they feature black people, something, if you might’ve noticed, that is fairly uncommon in medical imagery.
Chidiebere Ibe, a 25-year-old aspiring neurosurgeon began drawing medical illustrations during the Covid-19 lockdown. One of the drawings includes a pregnant black woman and her foetus which received more than 97 000 likes on Instagram.
“I’m a self-taught medical illustrator, and I realised that most drawings were not on black-skin,” Ibe told ABC News.
“When I was drawing something to represent all these key conditions, I needed to have a reference point, and it became very difficult for me, because I could not (find them),” he said.
“If doctors associate light skin tones with white patients, this may also influence how doctors think about who is a ‘typical’ patient,” she said.
The study also found that when these textbooks depicted skin cancer, they used a white model patient and only showed examples of melanomas on light skin. Whereas black Americans are three times more likely to receive a late-stage cancer than whites.
Rachel Hardeman, a professor specialising in health and racial equity at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, connects the lack of diversity in medical illustrations to racism within the health-care system as a whole. The lack of representation in medical illustrations, especially in textbooks, she said, is “reinforcing this narrative that whiteness is the norm”.
On a very positive not Ibe has received a ton of support and attention with regards to his illustrations. “The comments have been on fire,“ he said.
“And people have been recording themselves and saying how they felt about it, how the drawing made them feel and that they can actually see themselves in the drawing.”
Ibe was ecstatic and amazed by the positive feedback, “It’s such a blessing, because the purpose is to get people to be included or to be accepted in these,” Ibe said.
The future for Ibe looks even brighter, some publishers have reached out to him about including his work in their textbooks.
On a very positive not Ibe has received a ton of support and attention with regards to his illustrations. “The comments have been on fire,“ he said.
“And people have been recording themselves and saying how they felt about it, how the drawing made them feel and that they can actually see themselves in the drawing.”
Ibe was ecstatic and amazed by the positive feedback, “It’s such a blessing, because the purpose is to get people to be included or to be accepted in these,” Ibe said.
The future for Ibe looks even brighter, some publishers have reached out to him about including his work in their textbooks.
