Isabelle Wachsmuth, MSc, MPH - Switzerland
Abstract of the presentation
Art and Creativity to Humanize Health Care and Services: A World Map View
Branch: Other (Art therapy and large social prescribing interventions into the health system)
Across the globe, art and creativity serve as powerful tools to humanize health care by:
- Enhancing emotional well-being and reducing stress
- Improving communication between patients and providers
- Promoting community engagement and health education
- Creating healing environments that reflect cultural identities
Art therapy is performed on a large scale in hospitals to reduce stress (for patients and health providers) today in many countries, with spectacular impacts specifically in mitigating health disparities and inequalities, as well as contributing to social cohesion and wellbeing at individual and collective levels. An example is music and dance therapy programs in clinics and hospices. Advanced initiatives in healthy design and architecture (including Indigenous art in Australia and New Zealand) are being considered more and more, as well as patient art installations and murals to create welcoming environments.
The use of art and creative activities directly improves health communication through creative storytelling projects, in addition to supporting well-being among patients themselves, through patient partnership initiatives, between patients and health providers, and also among providers. Examples include art-based workshops for patient and staff well-being. At the community level, community-based murals and street art promote health awareness. Interactive art projects, such as living museums, support mental health and social inclusion. In Asia, for example in Japan, Zen-inspired art and meditation practices are used in patient care; traditional art forms such as Rangoli and calligraphy are incorporated into healing spaces; and digital art and virtual reality therapies are used for rehabilitation. More broadly, nature-inspired art installations promote calmness.
This session will provide an opportunity to review and reflect on all these emerging practices in the field of TCIM and integrated health.
Curriculum vitae
Mrs Isabelle Wachsmuth, MSc, MPH is an expert in multi-sectoral institutional and human capacity building with 20 years of experience in an international network promoting and implementing knowledge management and collective intelligent solutions in both high and low income countries. She has a Masters in Sciences on “Genie Physiologique” at the University of Poitiers, France and Master in Public Health at the University of Geneva. Now in WHO Headquarter, she is project manager for Universal Health Coverage and Life course division and she is leading an innovative incubator Art Impact For Health and SDGs to grow art and culture within the medical environment as an innovative strategy to build resilient individuals, communities, and health systems, creating a global creative and organic community movement that advances the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Health for All. Previously she have supported cross-cutting areas like palliative care, health care innovation, engagement (from patient to community) in the context of Integrated People Centred Health Services, partnerships through linguistic collaborations mechanisms to contribute to Health Information For All. Previously in WHO, she was a project and communication manager of EVIPNet (Evidence Informed Policy Network) designing and bringing to life its social network, particularly in African countries for helping policy-makers to make better decisions based on evidence and to establish sustainable partnerships and collaboration with large range of stakeholders. She had worked for the UNECE Sustainable Energy Division involved in the implementation of the UNDA Project on enhanced energy services for pro-poor areas through PPP in renewable energy and at the same time adviser to Economic Cooperation and Integration Division on establishing UNECE International PPP Specialist Centre of Excellence on Health in Manila Philippines and others PPP Specialist Centre of Excellence in Institutional and Legal Concession- PPP in France and in Renewable energy in Morocco.
Please note that some of the texts also include machine-generated translations.
