Over the past few decades, there has been growing public awareness in the arts and medicine communities that the arts, along with sleep, good nutrition and exercise, can play a role in promoting physical and mental health. Now is an initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Jameel Arts & Health Lab and Medical Journal lancet Scientific evidence will be provided for this idea.
According to a statement on the World Health Organization website, “Incorporating the arts into health care services has been shown to lead to positive clinical outcomes for patients, while also supporting other stakeholders, including health care providers, patients’ loved ones and the wider community. Benefits are seen in multiple areas, including health promotion, health condition and disease management, and disease prevention.”
In 2023, the World Health Organization and Jameel Arts and Health Lab announced an upcoming lancet Series on the health benefits of global art. A series of research papers and commissions will be published by leading medical journals lancetThe project is led by Professor Nisha Sajnani, co-director of the Jameel Lab for Arts and Health and director of drama therapy and arts and health at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and Dr. Nils Fietje, co-director of the Jameel Lab for Arts and Health and technical officer at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe.
“Growing evidence, including a landmark 2019 WHO report covering more than 900 studies from 2000 to 2019, shows that participation in the arts, including music, theatre, dance and visual arts, can lead to a wide range of mental, physical and social health benefits,” Sajnani and Fietje write on the Jameel Arts and Health Lab website.
The first article is in lancet The global health series has just been published and this is a photo essay – the first lancetIt has a history of 202 years. These 32 photographs, selected by Stephen Stapleton, co-director of the Jameel Art and Health Laboratory, and his team, demonstrate what can be achieved by integrating the arts into often challenging institutional and clinical settings. These include images of a clown school in a refugee camp in Turkey; an exercise program at a nursing home in Singapore; and a project by street artist JR at Tehachapi Maximum Security Prison in California.
Additional articles in this series are planned for publication later this year.
