Project Report: The Art of Health: Creative arts for engagement in Zimbabwe
by rashidaferrand, THRU ZIMThe Art of Health is a Wellcome Trust funded initiative by The Health Research Unit Zimbabwe. The project used the creative arts (e.g. music, drama, art and dance) to effectively engage young people on matters pertaining to their health and well-being.
Published Literature: Learning From Participatory Visual Methods in Marginalized South African Communities
by gillblack, Pam SykesIn this paper from Frontiers in Public Health, Steps Toward Engagement Integrity: Learning From Participatory Visual Methods in Marginalized South African Communities (2022), authors Gill Black and Pam Sykes describe their 'Bucket Loads of Health project in South Africa.
Published Literature: Report on investing in Kenya's creative economy
by The Mawazo InstituteThe Nairobi Ideas Exchange by The Mawazo Institute hosted a roundtable discussion on the opportunities and challenges of scaling Kenya’s creative economy. This report will share key insights and potential next steps for individuals and practitioners looking to attract more funding.
This article describes the In Tune podcast series run by the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. The series discusses music and its relation to key factors affecting mental health, including social inclusion and community engagement, coping with stress, depression and anxiety, chronic pain, and psychological trauma as well as self-concept and memory.
This article by Abraham Mamela, an engagement specialist based in Botswana, outlines his argument for the need for African cities to be carefully organised to allow them to become hubs of social innovation and science advancement. He also outlines his engagement project, Heartstrings & Heartbeats.
Project Report: Using ‘Magnet Theatre’ to engage public audiences with health research in coastal Kenya
by Gladys Sanga, Irene Jao, Joy Kiptim, Alun Iwan DaviesThis project reflection from KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kenya explains how they used Magnet Theatre to engage communities and what they learnt from the process
Report on the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence's (SANTHE) COVID-19: where art and science meet project. The project, supported by the DELTAS Africa CPE Seed Fund in 2020, brought scientists and young African creatives together to explore the COVID-19 infodemic
Project Report: Community Engagement in the Collaborative African Genomics Network (CAfGEN)
by Thato Vinette Regonamanye, Dr. Mogomotsi MatshabaThe Collaborative African Genomics Network (CAfGEN) is a H3Africa affiliate and National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study coordinated at Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence. This article describes their approach to community engagement.
Published Literature: Actor-doctor partnership for theatre-based public health education
by kartiksharma, Shivani Mathur Gaiha, Sanghamitra Pati, Mallika SarabhaiThis paper from the Health Education Journal describes an evaluation of the Actors & Doctors: Staging Public Health Matters project. The authors assesed the feasibility, acceptability and impact of the Actor–Doctor project, which was an intervention involving theatre professionals and medical specialists to jointly deliver street theatre based public health education.
Project Report: Right to Food Project - In their Voices
by Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, David Osogo, Hilda Owii, Michelle Mbuthia, Florence Sipalla, Teresia Njoki, Melaneia Warwick, Community Organized Groups, Nairobi“Right to Food Project” was implemented by the African Population and Health Research Center from 2018 to 2019 in urban Kenya. Different participatory visual methodologies were used to engage with the community members on the right to food. These included graffiti and wall murals, digital stories, photovoice, radio shows, human libraries, participatory educative theaters, open air events and community dialogue.
An art exhibition "What's in your medicines?", originally called ‘PHARMACIDE ARTS – Fake medicine : the disease of greed’, displays the original artwork of 12 South East Asian artists. It was created by the United States Pharmacopeia (funded by USAID), the French Government and other partners in 2011, and returned to South East Asia in 2019/20
News: Community Engagement for Antimicrobial Resistance (CE4AMR) network
by Jessica Mitchell, Rebecca King, Paul CookeCE4AMR network is a global gathering of researchers and practitioners who use, or are interested in using, community engagement – in particular participatory and creative approaches – to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)
Report on the first Hamwe Festival in Rwanda - a celebration of the collaboration between the creative industries and the global health field. The festival featured speakers from across the globe who utilise the arts to make an impact in global health, as well as performances by individuals who represent the synergies between the arts and health fields
Arting Health for Impact: India brought together Artists, Scientists and Communities for health
Arting Health for Impact: South Africa focused on collaborative storytelling and participatory design to engage three communities closely involved with mental health
Arting Health for Impact: Botswana engaged the public on HIV/AIDS, mental health and hypertension using street art
Arting Health for Impact: Street art engaging communities in Botswana, South Africa and India
by Abraham Mamela, Mesh Editorial TeamAn international collaborative public engagement partnership using street art to engage local communities in Botswana, India and South Africa.
Funfair in Nepal engages the public on the prevention and control of type 2 diabetes
Project Report: Actors & Doctors: Staging Public Health Matters
by kartiksharma, Dr Mallika Sarabhai, Sarah IqbalThis theatre project aimed to increase awareness of and engagement with complex public health concerns such as mental, environmental and sexual health. Implemented in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, by the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts
Project Report UPDATE: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania
by Standing Voice, Mesh Editorial TeamStanding Voice is an organisation that works to support people with albinism in Tanzania. This article explores how one of their projects, which communicates facts about albinism through interactive performances, navigates the cultural complexity surrounding albinism in Tanzania.
Arts in Health: Book Review
by Mesh Editorial TeamA useful and comprehensive overview of how to undertake research and practice in arts in health. Contains practical advice for the management of a collaborative arts and health project (including how to manage a tender process, plan and evaluation and write a research protocol).
Project Report: Sacred Water: A Community Arts and Engagement Project in Nepal
by Mesh Editorial TeamVietnamese artist Lena Bui discusses the participatory arts project 'Sacred Water' which took place in 2015 in Kathmandu, Nepal.
Project Report: Science, Art, Community: Building Interactive Understanding of Albinism in Tanzania
by Alex Magaga, Mesh Editorial TeamProject Report: Using Traditional Arts to Engage School Students on Environmental Health Issues in Delhi, India
by Rachita Gupta, kartiksharma, Banalata SenOur Environment, Our Health was conceived to raise awareness among school students of India’s pressing environmental health challenges. The approach enabled students to learn, discuss and respond to environmental health issues through a process of creative inquiry and puppetry
Workshop Report: Creative science engagement at the Crick and beyond
by Mesh Editorial Team, Jenny JopsonMwangi Chege, participant of the 2017 Wellcome Trust workshop "It’s Complicated: navigating scientific complexity in public and community engagement" reflects on learning from the workshop. In particular, the Kenyan premiere of The Lucky Specials, a feature film designed as both entertainment and engagement with audiences about Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis and the importance of drug adherence.
Project Report: A puppet show to engage the community addressing antimicrobial resistance and research with children
by Alice Hawryszkiewycz, phaikyeongFishy Clouds, a puppet theatre show, was created to engage the community on issues of antimicrobial resistance and research with children in Thailand. Fishy Clouds ran for twelve shows during the months of November and December 2016 in schools, hospitals, theatres and health centres. The show was performed in Bangkok and in the greater Mae Sot area in the Tak district of Thailand.
This brief report provides you with an overview of PRIDE’s activities at the Durga Puja Festival in New Delhi, India, to raise awareness among young people about mental health.
Blood Sugars aims to improve understanding of patient and clinician experiences of types 1 and 2 diabetes – particularly in the context of urban South Africa; as well as to improve communication between patients, clinicians and researchers, helping to create a more detailed picture of the condition and how it might be managed more effectively.
Village Drama against Malaria used Cambodian drama, art, music workshops and village concerts to mobilise rural communities to eliminate malaria. This report reflects upon the operations, successes and challanges of the project,
Art is a powerful medium for communication and engagement with science. To create a collaborative project that melds art with research creative practitioners and scientists must be brought together, but these individuals may think differently, have different priorities and work in different ways. This account of Genome Adventures, gives a little insight into the process of bringing different disciplines together and the challanges and benefits that result.
Project Report: Art in Global Health: Report and Video giving Insights and Considerations for Future Artist Residencies
by Sian AggettIn 2013, Art in Global Health set up artist residencies in six Wellcome Trust-funded research centres as a way of teasing out some of the more personal, philosophical, cultural and political dimensions of health research. This exciting project was born out of Wellcome Collection's desire to engage the curious public globally with the health research that the Trust funds - in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Thailand, Vietnam and the UK.
Project Report: co-produced exhibition on migration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa
by Jo VeareyMigration, health and wellbeing in Southern Africa: Co-produced exhibition captures experiences of LGBTIQ migrants and asylum seekers in Johannesburg and migrant men, women and transgender persons who sell sex in South Africa
Project Report: The Vaidya’s Oath: Public Engagement with Microbial Resistance through Drama
by Arundhati RajaA case study of The Vaidya’s Oath project which engaged audiences and school children with antimicrobial resistance.
Case study of a project run by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine which enabled adolescents in Zimbabwe to capture their stories and the stories of others living with HIV.
Case studies and tools for evaluating community engagement activities that engage through the arts.
Literature/Guides: Playing for Time: Making art as if the world mattered
by Mesh Editorial BoardLecture by theatre maker and artist Lucy Neal, author of Playing for Time (available from Oberon Books Ltd.). The handbook, written with over 60 artists, identifies collaborative arts practices in a range of community contexts and provides a useful breakdown of principles and practice for adaptation.
Benchmarks for quality of community dance projects
by Ken BartlettA summary of research and consultation with the community dance sector in the UK designed to address the ‘quality’ of artistic practice, and highlight the criteria that people were using in practice in their work, rather than seeking to define a prescriptive evaluation approach.
Literature: Insight and Exchange: An evaluation of the Wellcome Trust’s Sciart programme
by Wellcome TrustEvaluation report from the Wellcome Trust's Sciart funding programme
Summary and links to further infomation on the 2015 South African Young Academy of Science (SAYAS) workshop Fact, Fiction and Media: Re-imagining science engagement and its impact
A Case Study: In 2012 the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) was awarded £29,999 from the Wellcome Trust International Engagement Awards over three years to implement an engagement project alongside its Vietnam Initiative on Zoonotic Infections (VIZIONS). The project uses simple digital storytelling techniques to bring to the surface the participants’ ideas about personal and public risk and perceptions of disease and transmission.
Project Report: Dharavi Biennale, Mumbai, India
by Georgia BladonIn 2012 the Wellcome Trust International Engagement Awards supported a project based in the informal settlement of Dharavi in Mumbai, India, one of the largest ‘slums’ in the world. The project gives the local community an opportunity to engage with relevant health issues through a series of art projects, culminating in a large art and health festival in February and March 2015 — the Dharavi Biennale. This work grew out of a successful small award and received £130,000 over three years.