By Francis Ntow
Accra, Aug. 15, GNA – The inaugural Accra Arts and Health Festival has ended with a partnership to develop Ghana’s first Creative Health Curriculum for nursing students.
The two-day festival brought together artists, health professionals, researchers, policymakers, educators and community leaders to examine the role of arts and creativity in healthcare, education and wellbeing.
Professor Anthony Kwame Ahiawodzi, Vice Chancellor of Knutsford University, said the partnership with the Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship (GAIMF) would strengthen patient-centred healthcare education.
“Through this partnership, our students will gain experiential learning in the use of visual arts, music, drama, movement, and storytelling as tools for healing and wellbeing,” he said.
The festival was founded by GAIMF and inspired by the Global South Arts & Health Initiative, which organisers said had reached more than 45 cities and 500,000 community members globally.
It was organised in partnership with Knutsford University, the British Council, Young Leaders for Arts and Health and the National Health Students’ Association of Ghana (NAHSAG).
A major outcome was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Knutsford University and GAIMF to co-develop the Creative Health Curriculum for nursing students.
The curriculum is expected to incorporate arts-based approaches, creative wellbeing practices and experiential learning into nursing education, with a focus on patients’ physical, emotional and psychosocial needs.
Prof. Ahiawodzi said the partnership would also involve co-designing modules, building faculty capacity, enabling student participation in international festivals and undertaking research in creative health education.
Dr Kunle Adewale, Chair and Global Development Lead of the Global South Arts & Health Initiative, described the festival as a significant development for Ghana’s cultural and health sectors.
“The inaugural edition stands as a milestone in Ghana’s cultural and health landscape, an interdisciplinary, cross-sector and cross-cultural celebration demonstrating how creativity can transform communities, strengthen wellbeing, and shape the future of public health across the country,” he said.
Dr Adewale said the MoU would accelerate creative health education in Africa by preparing health professionals for inclusive, interdisciplinary and creative practice.
The festival also designated the Accra Art District as Africa’s first Creative Health Corridor, providing a platform for collaboration among artists, health professionals, researchers and communities.
Organisers said the festival had invested more than GHS100,000 in scholarships for early-career researchers, professionals and students to expand access to creative health programmes.
Medical students from the University of Ghana also co-designed three creative health pilot projects as part of efforts to promote arts-integrated approaches in medical education.
The festival also hosted the GRACE-Epi Workshop in Ghana for the first time, supported by the Wellcome Discovery Award and led by the University of Glasgow with partners including MEIRU, University College London, the Global South Arts and Health Initiative, ArtGlo Africa and GCDN.
The workshop focused on interdisciplinary research into the links between arts, ageing and wellbeing.
Organisers said they would continue to build partnerships across the arts, healthcare, education, research, policy and community sectors to promote creative health innovation in Ghana and the wider Global South.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
Reporter: Francis Ntow