Ground-breaking research series on health benefits of the arts
WHO and the Jameel Arts & Health Lab have announced a forthcoming Lancet Global Series on the health benefits of the arts.
The research collaboration, which kicked off on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), builds on a 2019 WHO report that presented evidence on the role of the arts in improving health and well-being. The report identified the contribution that the arts may have in promoting good health and health equity, preventing illness, and treating acute and chronic conditions across the life-course. These activities can range from dance programmes for people with Parkinson’s Disease, music therapy for pain management, and drama therapy to support social-emotional development, among many others.
“For too long we have seen Science and the Arts as separate endeavors,” said Sir Jeremy Farrar, Chief Scientist at the WHO. “But these silos were not always so. Through much of human history, the creative interface of different disciplines has been a catalyst for both innovation and healing. So I am delighted that this Jameel Arts & Health Lab – Lancet global series will show the scientific basis of the arts’ role in health with rigor, and help position artists and scientists as necessary partners towards health and well-being for all.”
The research series will be grounded on a novel conceptual framework on the important role of the arts in supporting health. It will focus on noncommunicable diseases, a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. It will also raise awareness about the existing evidence base and offer recommendations to improve global policy guidance on topics such as scaling up promising interventions through social prescribing and intersectoral collaboration between the arts, health, education, and social care sectors.
Read more: https://www.who.int
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