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Graphic medicine UBedu

Communicating corona in images and text

During the last weeks several comics and illustrations about COVID-19 have appeared online. Even if they are engaging not all convey reliable medical information. In this post we share comics and illustrations about the coronavirus and the ongoing pandemic with reliable information – both for adults and children.

Panel showing a large, spiky and pink monster (the virus) clinging on to a little boy.
Excerpt from “How to keep COVID away!” by Signe Åsberg.

Have you seen the cartoon “How to keep COVID away!“? Postdoctoral researcher and research coordinator Signe Åsberg at the Department of Circulation and Imaging Diagnostics at NTNU created the cartoon to explain to her daughter how the virus is infected, why we can get sick and what we can do to prevent infection. She is not alone in using comics in communicating scientific and medical topics.

The site where Signe’s comic was first published – Lifeology – aims to bring scientists and illustrators / artists together in the pursuit of science communication.

Dynamic one panel comic (GIF) illustrating the concept of how to flatten the curve by Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris.
Illustration by Siouxsie Wiles and Toby Morris.

Comics aren’t just for kids either. Comics, or montages of text and images, are effective in communicating complex knowledge to the public, f.ex. during a pandemic. This may include communicating the difficulties in calculating mortality or infection rate of the new coronavirus. Stories can also create recognition, arouse empathy and provide comfort in difficult times.

COVID-19 comics

Alice Jaggers, former librarian at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, has compiled a list of comics with reliable information about COVID-19 that you can read freely online.

Here are some of the comics sorted by categories (see full list in link above):

Educational
Ethics
Comics by Care Providers
Comics by Patients
Humorous/Coping
Historical/Pandemic-Related
Non-comic Resources

We hope these can be of benefit and pleasure to both researchers, health workers and students – as well as patients and relatives.

See also our previous blog post about using comics in science communication and medical education (in Norwegian). Follow us on instagram where we post graphic resources under the highlight “Graphic medicine”.

Contact us

Don’t hesitate to contact us on post@bmh.ntnu.no if you have questions or comments.

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