In recent years, comics have emerged as an effective tool for prevention, health promotion and health education. Coined in 2007, the term “Graphic Medicine” describes the use of comics to communicate complex medical concepts, support patients and raise awareness about health. Visual language makes science more accessible, thus promoting health literacy and supporting medical education.
Interest in the use of comics as a tool to support medicine – from preventing disease to promoting health – has grown significantly over the last decade.
The term Graphic Medicine was coined in 2007 by Ian Williams, comics artist, doctor and founder of the web platform GraphicMedicine.org, to describe the therapeutic potential of a language which, although traditionally associated with entertainment, is carving out a place for itself in healthcare and health education. Growing scientific evidence confirms its effectiveness and supports its dissemination, highlighting its unique potential in simplifying communication and learning.
As explained in a recent article published in Artribune – “Il fumetto come cura: quando i comics sono un supporto alla medicina” [“Comics as therapy: when comics support medicine”, article in Italian] – a vast international community called the Graphic Medicine International Collective has been active since 2019 in Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Japan and Spain.
By their very nature, comics are able to convey information using language that is accessible even to those without any specific education. The combination of words and images improves people’s understanding by activating both logical-conceptual and visual memory.
When it comes to the challenge of enhancing health literacy, comics can be used to raise awareness of complex concepts, such as the functioning of the immune system or the risks associated with certain diseases. And they can also be an emotional support for those with serious illnesses, such as cancer, or chronic diseases like diabetes.
Health education is vital in order to empower people to make informed decisions about their health. Without the transmission of basic medical knowledge, there can be no such thing as health promotion – a process in which comics could play a key role in reaching a wide audience, including young people, who are often more open to this kind of communication than they are to traditional information materials.
This challenge has been addressed extensively by Let’s Science!, a project developed by IBSA Foundation in partnership with the Department of Education, Culture and Sport of the Canton of Ticino: an initiative to promote science that consists of a series of ten books on health issues published by Carocci Editore and created by experts and scientists from a range of sectors, together with children from lower secondary schools in Ticino. Stefano Santarelli, founder of the Scuola Romana dei Fumetti [Rome Comics School] and one of the project’s collaborators, points out that each book contains a section dealing with scientific topics relating to the human body, followed by a story written by the pupils themselves, using their newly learned knowledge, and illustrated by professionals. In this way, elements like DNA become the heroes of comics that are not simply a means of expression, but also a powerful tool to support scientific and health education.
The use of Graphic Medicine can significantly increase awareness about issues such as mental health, psychosocial well-being and disease treatment and prevention.
A study conducted in Burkina Faso, published in 2025 in BMC Public Health, evaluated the effectiveness of comics in raising awareness about mental health in a sample population of adolescents and young adults aged 10 to 24. The results show that comics improved mental health literacy by 30% compared to the control group, proving to be particularly effective in the 10-14 years age range, where they were 25% more effective than other information materials.
Comics also made complex concepts more engaging and easier to understand, helping raise awareness of the stigma attached to mental health disorders. The researchers concluded that comics are an innovative and accessible educational tool, one that is especially suitable for low-income situations, as demonstrated by the socio-economic reality of Burkina Faso.
In 2021, as part of the joint WHO-UNICEF Helping Adolescents Thrive initiative, UNICEF and the World Health Organization created the first of a series of comics entitled Magnificent Mei and Friends, along with a guide for teachers, to support social and emotional learning among youngsters aged 10 to 14. The initiative aims to help foster psychosocial well-being, prevent mental health disorders and reduce risk behaviours in adolescents. Seeing relatable experiences through the eyes of fictional characters can actually help cultivate empathy and critical thinking, validating young people's feelings and reducing their sense of loneliness.
Another interesting project that uses comics as a resource for health education is the Graphic Medicine Project. This pioneering partnership between Alder Hey Children's Hospital (Liverpool) and Comics Youth CIC aims to raise awareness of Graphic Medicine as an interdisciplinary practice to provide young person-friendly health information. Its ultimate goal is to improve the quality of life of patients by addressing some of the issues associated with long-term hospital stays, such as isolation and depression.
Medical information is often imparted through healthcare professionals. Comics can serve as a useful tool in the training of doctors to strengthen their communication skills. The study “Graphic Medicine: The Use of Comics in Medical Education and Patient Care”, published in The BMJ in 2010, showed that comics can significantly enhance doctors’ training, improving their empathy skills, such as listening to and understanding patients’ emotions, by 40% compared to those who only used text-based materials. What’s more, the use of comics contributed to a 25% reduction in communication errors between doctors and patients.
In addition to the scientific evidence, there are a few practical examples of Graphic Medicine being incorporated into university training courses.
Michael Green, Professor in the departments of Humanities and Medicine at Penn State College of Medicine (Pennsylvania), has been using Graphic Medicine since 2009 to teach his medical students how to hone their interpersonal skills.
In 2022, the Georgia Institute of Technology, one of the top technological research universities in the United States, launched the Vertically Integrate Project (VIP) programme in partnership with the Shepherd Center in Atlanta (a spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation centre). In this Graphic Medicine course, Georgia Tech students work with lecturers of various subjects to create comics inspired by the personal stories of patients at the Shepherd Center, with a view to making medical information more accessible to a non-specialised audience.
Some Italian universities have also started experimenting with the use of comics in medical education. The University of Bologna’s Faculty of Medicine and Surgery offers the first course in Italy on the use of graphic stories as a means of communication and expression in the biomedical and healthcare context. The course aims to upgrade the skills of future doctors in terms of understanding disease from a holistic viewpoint, encompassing not only the biology, but also storytelling and the social aspect.
Prevention is an essential component of public health. And comics lend themselves to this purpose. Through stories that tackle issues such as smoking, alcoholism and sexually transmitted diseases, readers can be educated about the risks and consequences of unhealthy behaviours. Visual storytelling and the opportunity to create charismatic characters who choose to adopt positive behaviours for their health can make the message of prevention more engaging, thus encouraging healthy lifestyles.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 20% of adolescents experience mental health problems, anxiety, stress and social isolation. Telling stories about characters coping with depression or burnout can help younger readers to recognise and face their own problems and find information on resources and strategies for getting support. Comics can offer an effective and “light-hearted” way to discuss these issues, reducing stigma and fostering awareness as a result.
This is what Mind Over Mirror – Mirror My Mind Comics does. This comics series was created by the Mental Health Foundation in the United Kingdom to educate young people about mental health disorders and self-acceptance. Similar comics could be handed out in schools and communities to build awareness and encourage young people to seek support.
Looking to the future, it is essential that we continue exploring and evaluating the effectiveness of this approach, making sure the content is accurate, accessible and culturally sensitive. However, there is no doubt that Graphic Medicine will play an increasingly important role in imparting knowledge related to treatment, prevention and health promotion. As technology advances and access to digital media increases, comics can reach an even wider audience, opening up new opportunities for health education and contributing to building a more informed society. In conclusion, when used in the right way, comics can become a powerful weapon in the fight for better health for everyone.