Arts Meets Health, As DRASA Ambassadors Create Supergerms in Comic Illustrations
“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.” – Aristotle
As part of our learning methods for the Health and Hygiene Clubs we established in 30 secondary schools in Osun and Lagos States, 900 DRASA Ambassadors— i.e, student members of the club—were recently put into groups to come up with creative ways to represent the concept of supergerms. These supergerms are microorganisms which have become resistant to the antimicrobial drugs (antimalarials, antibiotics, etc) that would normally kill them. The phenomenon of these microorganisms adapting to become immune to the drugs we have to kill them is called antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and it’s been called the “silent pandemic” spreading around the world.
DRASA Ambassadors creating their supergerm characters – resistant bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites
Prior to this activity, our Ambassadors were taught lessons on germ theory, how germs spread, personal hygiene principles, handwashing, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in humans and animals, sexual and reproductive health and sexually transmitted infections, to mention a few. Understanding these topics was vital for the much-anticipated comic illustration activity.
The creative process for the supergerm comic illustrations
The comic illustration is one of the many hands-on activities designed by our project team to provide these young Ambassadors with opportunities to be creative, express their visual intelligence, share important health messages, and grasp the concept of AMR, personal health & hygiene and environmental health, with little or no words.
In the past, some of these group activities helped inspire previous Ambassadors like Glorious Erhuanga in her journey to becoming an English and Literary student major at University of Lagos.
DRASA Ambassadors in action
To properly demonstrate their understanding of AMR, students were put together in groups during their Health and Hygiene Club meeting and asked to brainstorm how to communicate the concept of AMR in a fun way by developing a supergerm character. They drew that character on a cardboard poster sheet and presented it to the rest of the class, as well as the rest of the school during their next school assembly.
Groups presenting their supergerm comics
These unique supergerm characters were introduced by each group to the rest of the class, where they shared some of their supergerm’s features such as the type of microorganism it is, how it spreads and multiplies, why it became so strong, any special powers it has, how it infects people, and what can kill it or stop it in its tracks. The rest of the class in turn shared what they learned from the presentation and what they liked or disliked about each of the supergerm comic characters.
DRASA Ambassadors presenting their supergerm comics in their groups
As recommended by the national and global action plans for addressing AMR in Nigeria and beyond, DRASA continues to do our part to push the “catch them young” approach, as part of our grassroots activities to cascade mass health education and awareness and drive behavioural change on AMR.
