A red-suited superhero alights on top of his foe, bringing his fist down with a blow that smashes his enemy to smithereens. The foe’s name, though, isn’t the Joker or Lex. It’s diabetes.

It’s all part of the World Health Organization’s latest public awareness campaign, launched Thursday. “More and more younger people…are developing the Type II form of diabetes,” says Paul Garwood, a communications specialist at the WHO, which has in recent years begun to focus on eradicating non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as hypertension, heart disease and obesity, alongside traditional global health concerns like malaria. The campaign marks the first time the WHO has turned to cartoons—or superheroes—to get its point across.

“It was a gamble,” says Garwood, but “we thought [children]