Jameel Arts & Health Lab - Lancet Global Series on the Health Benefits of the Arts

The Jameel Arts & Health Lab, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, has convened a landmark Lancet Global Series to highlight the growing scientific evidence supporting the role of the arts in health and well-being. The series demonstrates how the arts contribute to mental, physical, and social health by fostering resilience, emotional engagement, and social cohesion. These are all key factors in achieving WHO’s holistic definition of health.

Scope

This series examines the arts as a necessary global health resource, rather than a luxury, and presents the conditions that support integrating cultural assets into health policies and practices. A growing body of evidence, including the landmark 2019 WHO report of over 900 studies from 2000 to 2019, shows that engaging in the arts, including music, theatre, dance, and visual arts, offers wide-ranging mental, physical, and social health benefits. These include fostering resilience, supporting healthy development, improving clinical outcomes, and aiding psychosocial recovery.

Arts practices are increasingly recognized across medicine, nursing, psychology, rehabilitation, and public health, reflecting a broader understanding of health as shaped by biological, psychological, social, cultural, and environmental factors. Despite strong evidence and the low-risk, cost-effective nature of many arts interventions, they remain under-utilized in mainstream healthcare. Commercial priorities and lack of awareness have limited policy support and funding, leading to cuts in arts budgets worldwide and restricting access.

The series will provide an overview of evidence, identify challenges, and offer recommendations to integrate the arts into health systems worldwide. It will include a narrative review, policy roadmap, and photo-essay showcasing arts in diverse health settings. The series aims to position the arts as a fundamental, cost-effective resource for global health and well-being.  

Project team

Led by Dr Nisha Sajnani (JA&HL, NYU Steinhardt) and Dr Nils Fietje (JA&HL, WHO Europe), the project team consists of researchers and artists from Australia, Belgium, Chile, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malawi, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Scotland, Singapore, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, the US, and the UK.

The Lancet Global Series on the Health Benefits of the Arts was launched on 20 September 2023 at a special WHO75 Wellbeing Concert at Carnegie Hall, as part of the Jameel Arts & Health Lab’s United Nations General Assembly Healing Arts Week. Support for this project is provided by Community Jameel.

Categories