The fotonovela, a cultural icon of generations past, was to the women who read them avidly what comic books have been to young boys. Fotonovelas (graphic soap operas appearing in magazine format) had their rise to popularity in the mid-1960s, after the birth of televised soap operas, or fotonovelas, in the late 1950s/early 1960s. Fotonovelas were a way for those who could not afford a television set to have access to soaps.

In Colombia, painter Arnulfo Luna Franco, influenced by pop art, helped popularize this genre by creating numerous canvasses inspired by the popular fotonovelas of the time.

Bringing a new twist to this once-popular genre, Dr. Sylvia Martínez, an Assistant Professor at Howard University’s Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, has launched an education project to help address health disparities among Latinos.

Dr. Martinez’s inspiration for her fotonovela project, My Health Stories, was inspired by Healthy People 2010, a project of the National Institutes of Health “designed to increase the quality and years of Americans’ healthy life, and to end racial and ethnic disparities in the burden of disease.”

Dr. Martínez, who has already piloted My Health Stories in the District’s African-American community, has partnered with Vida to create a fotonovela about stroke prevention, with an emphasis on those who are at risk for it, and how to respond if someone near them suffers a stroke. Vida’s abuelitos star as actors in the project and contribute to the development of the script.

For more information, visit www.myhealthstories.com