A medical student and self-taught illustrator from Nigeria sparked a broad conversation about the lack of diversity in medical industry textbooks from an eye-catching illustration he posted on his social media account.
Chidiebere Ibe, 25, will enter Kyiv Medical University in Ukraine next month. He said he’d spent at least a year learning to draw anatomy, focusing on Black skin every step of the way.
Ibe started drawing medical illustrations featuring Black bodies about a year ago. “I made a deliberate action to constantly advocate that there be the inclusion of Black people in medical literature,” he told NBC News.
I wasn’t expecting it to go viral,” Ibe, an aspiring pediatric neurosurgeon, said of the image in an interview. “I was just sticking up for what I believe in, advocating for equality in health through medical illustrations. I made a deliberate action to constantly advocate that there be inclusion of Black people in medical literature.”
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He began publishing the images on social media, showing conditions like empyema thoracis and seborrheic eczema on Black skin.
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The fetus illustration went viral after a Twitter user shared the photo, writing, “I’ve literally never seen a black fetus illustrated, ever.”
I’ve literally never seen a black foetus illustrated, ever.
This is amazing @ebereillustrate pic.twitter.com/u8aMJ41BZY
— Aliyah✨ (@Liyahsworld_xo) December 2, 2021
The post was retweeted more than 50,000 times, and the illustration garnered more than 88,000 likes on Instagram and even made its way to TikTok.
Ibe also received praise from medical professionals.
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Ibe has created a GoFundMe to help with his education fees and hopefully bring more awareness to the lack of diversity and equity within the health care industry.
