ArticleBMJ global health2020
Arts-based approaches to promoting health in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review.
Article in BMJ global health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 24 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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Who cites it
24 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of health communication strategies in Sub-Saharan Africa-2015-2022.Health promotion perspectives · 2023Pooled it
- The effect of the music-supported education program on the awareness and health beliefs of Roma women about cervical cancer and screening.BMC public health · 2025Trial
- Creative Arts to Enhance Cervical Cancer Awareness Using Art-Based Messages From a Nigerian Crowdsourcing Open Call: Qualitative Thematic Analysis.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Exploring the use of art interventions in challenging stigmas related to neurological disorders: A scoping review.PloS one · 2026Article
- Article
- Music as an implementation strategy for evidence-based health interventions in Africa: a systematic review using the RE-AIM framework.Implementation science communications · 2025Review
- A health boost from the arts.Nature medicine · 2025Article
- Forum theatre as a tool to promote positive donkey welfare on Lamu Island, Kenya.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2025Article
- Land-Based Retreats as a Method for Building Enabling Environments for HIV Prevention with Northern and Indigenous Adolescents in the Northwest Territories, Canada: Mixed-Methods Findings.AIDS and behavior · 2024Article
- Participatory asset mapping and photovoice interviews to scope cultural and community resources to reduce alcohol harm in Chitwan, Nepal.Perspectives in public health · 2024Article
- Evaluating barriers to reaching women with public health information in remote communities in Mali.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Article
- Review
- "I am not alone with tears": embodying stigma and longing among youth living with perinatally acquired HIV in Tanzania through a collaborative arts-based approach.Medical humanities · 2023Article
- 'Through the drawings…they are able to tell you straight': Using arts-based methods in violence research in South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- "Words are too small": exploring artmaking as a tool to facilitate dialogues with young South African women about their sexual and reproductive health experiences.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2023Article
- Article
- Social singing, culture and health: interdisciplinary insights from the CHIME project for perinatal mental health in The Gambia.Health promotion international · 2022Article
- "I see salt everywhere": A qualitative examination of the utility of arts-based participatory workshops to study noncommunicable diseases in Tanzania and Malawi.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- Experiences from cross-cultural collaboration in health campaigns in Tanzania: a qualitative study.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionArts-based approaches to health promotion have been used widely across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), particularly in public health responses to HIV/AIDS. Such approaches draw on deep-rooted historical traditions of indigenous groups in combination with imported traditions which emerged from colonial engagement. To date, no review has sought to map the locations, health issues, art forms and methods documented by researchers using arts-based approaches in SSA.
methodsUsing scoping review methodology, 11 databases spanning biomedicine, arts and humanities and social sciences were searched. Researchers screened search results for papers using predefined criteria. Papers included in the review were read and summarised using a standardised proforma. Descriptive statistics were produced to characterise the location of the studies, art forms used or discussed, and the health issues addressed, and to determine how best to summarise the literature identified.
resultsSearches identified a total of 59 794 records, which reduced to 119 after screening. We identified literature representing 30 (62.5%) of the 48 countries in the SSA region. The papers covered 16 health issues. The majority (84.9%) focused on HIV/AIDS-related work, with Ebola (5.0%) and malaria (3.3%) also receiving attention. Most studies used a single art form (79.0%), but a significant number deployed multiple forms (21.0%). Theatre-based approaches were most common (43.7%), followed by music and song (22.6%), visual arts (other) (9.2%), storytelling (7.6%) and film (5.0%).
conclusionsArts-based approaches have been widely deployed in health promotion in SSA, particularly in response to HIV/AIDS. Historically and as evidenced by this review, arts-based approaches have provided a platform to facilitate enquiry, achieved significant reach and in some instances supported demonstrable health-related change. Challenges relating to content, power relations and evaluation have been reported. Future research should focus on broadening application to other conditions, such as non-communicable diseases, and on addressing challenges raised in research to date.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.