Picturing Health
... in picturesEveryone knows when we are sick we need medicine… right?
But to get as well as we can, we need much more.
We need health care workers with the knowledge, skill and commitment to treat us and help us make changes to our lives.
We need knowledge and understanding of our condition and treatment, to empower us to ask questions and form a real partnership with our health team.
We need self-knowledge and compassion, to confront sadness and build a positive mind for healing and make life changes.
We need research knowledge of the best treatments in our setting to become practice.
We need families and communities with the knowledge and empathy to understand and help us on the path to recovery.
We need to be able to share our hard won experience with others, as “expert patients” and advocates for change.
Picturing Health works through film and ART to share knowledge and experience in all these ways.
Our films to train clinicians and health workers are shot in busy hospitals and health centres, bringing real clinical practice to teaching.
Our interactive case study films, in particular, follow patients over a period of time.
They mimic the way that doctors learn through experience, with successes and failures.
These films can be used as tools for training courses and mentoring, as well as self-study.
We make films to empower patients...
…with real stories to inform and inspire.
We work with patients, researchers and health professionals….
…to design films that will provide the knowledge people need to understand their illness and treatment.
We use not only facts, figures and interviews; but also animation and humour.
Our films are shown in waiting rooms, schools, workplaces, villages, on social media…
…and even in Tibetan monasteries.
We work with leading research organisations to make films...
...to disseminate the results of major clinical trials and other studies.
Research in Africa is increasingly led by African researchers, who work in partnership with international institutions to find the best solutions for Africa.
Our films are told from the point of view of the people the research is designed to help.
They provide information and context for policymakers.
Turning research findings into practice saves lives.
Picturing your own health...
We started to use Art Therapy
as a way to produce images for films.
But it is such a powerful experience…
for people to produce their own images,
building the self knowledge to picture their own health,
That we have continued to offer it.
We work with young people living with HIV, war veterans and victims of sexual abuse.
Our Community films are designed to challenge attitudes to health.
They force debate and confront stigma by changing what is socially acceptable and what is not.
Stigma towards HIV, for example, is one of the main barriers to people getting tested and starting life saving treatment.
Shown on big screens in villages, schools and community halls, the films build a story designed to draw the audience into a discussion.
to change the way that communities picture health issues.
