Image-based health reproductive health curriculum
Client: Community for Childbirth International - healthcare nonprofit in Uganda
Timeline: March – August 2022
Team: 3 medical researchers, 1 student researcher
Tools: Photoshop, InDesign, Figma
Project Overview: I illustrated over 100 story-based visuals to make a nonprofit’s reproductive health curriculum more accessible for non-literate and semi-literate mothers in 15 villages around Jinja, Uganda. To ensure educational accuracy and cultural relevance, I collaborated with Ugandan medical professionals throughout the process.
Research Structure:
Challenge
Every day, 830 mothers die due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth — 70% of them in sub-Saharan Africa. CCI, a nonprofit based in Jinja, Uganda, created a reproductive health curriculum to raise community awareness for maternal care. To reach non-literate people in villages targeted by the curriculum, CCI required a design strategy translating the curriculum’s text into story-based educational images.
The number of maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 (World Health Organization).
Early-Stage Insights & Analysis
For the program to be successful, it was essential for my process to collaborate with the local community using the designs. From my literature review and communication with CCI’s team in Jinja, 3 key criteria emerged. Images needed to be:
1. Visually legible
Straightforward images so non-literate users wouldn’t need to rely on the curriculum’s text. High-contrast, no-color images in accordance with the office’s B&W printer.
2. Medically accurate and informative
Images in line with CCI’s mission to raise awareness of the Three-Delay Model of Maternal Mortality: Recognizing the need to seek care, being able to physically reach a health facility, and receiving appropriate care from that health facility.
3. Culturally relevant
Story-based images that community members in the villages around Jinja, Uganda can see their daily lives reflected in. Achieved through partnership and cyclical feedback from local community members.
Prototyping & Feedback
I collaborated with CCI’s medical partners in their Jinja, Uganda office to set up the drawings to be in line with this key criteria. Co-Founder Mukalu Mohammed and Director of Research Solomon Wani provided reference images and guidance for my first draft illustrations, then screened the drawings with families and emergency drivers in the local area to provide iterative feedback on the criteria.
Draft
Revision
Deliverables
My deliverables consisted of over 100 story-based illustrations that were visually legible, medically informative, and culturally relevant. Literate individuals were trained on the curriculum at CCI’s Jinja office, then taught and distributed it to other community members in the surrounding villages.
Below is an abridged story I illustrated for Chapter 4: Danger Signs & High-Risk Pregnancy.
Impact
The curriculum was printed and distributed to over 200 pregnant families in 15 villages around Jinja, Uganda. CCI’s team in Uganda received positive feedback from community members for the curriculum’s visual clarity and cultural relevance to their daily lives. After this project, I worked on the design strategy for CCI’s obstetric emergency driver service training manual.