Communicating with pictures: The role of pictures in health education in outpatient clinics of rural African hospitals

Abstract

This paper explores the way in which pictures can contribute to health education in rural African hospitals. Pictures are not always effective as a means of communication with illiterates: they make use of a visual language which needs to be taught just as much as a verbal language. In order to create comprehensible and culturally acceptable pictures a certain amount of realism is important. This paper describes the factors that influence this realism and the requirement necessary for visual images in the specific situation of rural outpatient clinics.