On the health benefits of the arts, WHO in collaboration with Jameel Arts & Health Lab announced the release of Lancet Global Series.
Based on a 2019 WHO report, this collaboration has come into existence on the side-lines of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The 2019 report by WHO provided the information regarding how the arts may contribute in good health and health equity. Arts can be helpful in preventing illness, and treating acute and chronic conditions too.
The activities 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 more.
“For too long we have seen Science and the Arts as separate endeavours,” 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 commence with a novel conceptual framework on the important role of the arts in supporting health. The focus will be over noncommunicable diseases, a leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
This programme will raise awareness about the existing evidence base and offer recommendations to improve global policy guidance on topics like, scaling up promising interventions through social prescribing and intersectoral collaboration between the fields of arts, health, education and social care sectors.
More about this report is available on the official website of WHO.`