What’s so funny about maternal health and child mortality?

 (Lena Ask) 

 

(Nathan Mpangala)

Amila de Saram Larssen

Well, nothing, really.  But comic strips featuring information about Millenium Development Goals 4 and 5 (maternal health and child deaths) might just be an effective means of educating Norwegians about these pressing issues faced in most of the developing world.

Norad engaged Lene Ask, a Norwegian comic book writer and artist, to travel to Tanzania and draw cartoons from the field. Her cartoons will be displayed at Oslo's House of Literature (Litteraturhuset) today at 11.30. Erik Solheim, Minister of the Environment and International Development, and Ingunn Klepsvik, Deputy Director of Norad, will launch the display.

Lene Ask spent 10 days in rural Tanzania this summer talking to women, health workers and others about their experiences.  Based on her travels, Ask produced  7 separate illustrated stories.  6 of the stories deal with her observations and experiences in Tanzania, and one is inspired by her preconcieved ideas of what “Africa” was like, prior to embarking on the trip.

Nathan Mpangala, a Tanzanian cartoonist, is a partner in the project.  His cartoons related to the theme of maternal health and child mortality will be exhibited and published along with those of Lena Ask.

The project’s goal is to reach new demographic groups with information about the high rates of maternal and child mortality, especially in Africa.