Discourse by illustration: Breaking Barriers and Repositioning Africa in Global Health

Author: Maame Ekua

I believe there is a point where art and science meet and through visual communication we can contribute to important and difficult topics in the health and global health space. In this illustration I portray the key barriers to global health as outlined by Weiss and Pollack (2017) and suggest ways to overcome them.

Illustration Concept:

From left to right in the illustration: Global health can be achieved and the ideal condition would be, where the worlds heart rate is normal. However, there are some barriers that are preventing us from achieving this. These barriers include; social and cultural, corruption, priority selection and resource limitation.

To break these barriers, we need to come together as a continent, adding on inclusivity and equity to our rich continental diversity and that is the only way be can push Africa through the walls that are holding her back and reposition her as first in global health.

Image Credits:

This is an original illustration by the Author depicting the barriers to Global health in Africa and how they could be overcome. It was selected as one of the 10 final submissions for the Africa CDC Creative Art contest at the 3rd International Conference on Public Health in Africa in Lusaka, Zambia in November 2023.