Despite the scale of the work, the team has set an ambitious target of releasing 200 PCOS-related videos in 15 languages in 2025, adding to the existing 279 episodes already covering a wide range of health topics. Collectively, CoMICs videos have already reached an audience of 5.7 million people worldwide.
“Health misinformation is one of the biggest silent threats of our time," says Dr Kempegowda. "Through CoMICs, we are not only countering myths with science, but also building a global community of future doctors who are trained in dissemination, education, and implementation. This is about empowering both patients and professionals with knowledge that is accurate, accessible, and culturally relevant."
The content is hosted on PCOS Seva, a dedicated patient website shared with clinic attendees and healthcare providers. Beyond the UK, CoMICs is collaborating with the Endocrine Society of India and the PCOS Society of India to produce multimedia resources in South Asian languages, on whose sites the content will also be made available. In addition, the project has also received research grant support from the Endocrine Society of India to evaluate the impact of such multimedia resources on improving patient care.
Dr Duru Shah, Founder President of the PCOS Society of India, said: “It’s been a pleasure working with Dr Punith Kempegowda on the CoMICs initiative. India is a truly multilingual country, and PCOS affects women in every state. Our members, who come from diverse regions and speak many different languages, have volunteered their time to collaborate with the CoMICs team on translations and ensure the videos reach women in their own mother tongue. By hosting these resources on our website, we will empower Indian women with accurate knowledge about PCOS, which is so rampant in our country.”
Dr Kempegowda, who also serves as an Honorary Consultant at Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and is supported by the Midlands Patient Safety Research Collaboration and the NIHR REDiC incubator, added: “By bringing together medical students from Birmingham and beyond, CoMICs is proving that misinformation can be tackled most effectively when the next generation of clinicians are equipped to lead the charge. The dedication of students such as Mr Vardhan Venkatesh and Mr Santosh Kumar from the University of Birmingham, Miss Esha Kaur from Imperial College London, Miss Leticia Santiago da Silva Ferreira from Faculdade Souza Marques, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Dr Uglješa Barać and Dr Bogdan Milenković from Serbia, exemplifies how young people, working across borders and languages, can transform global health communication.”
