Art for Research

The returns of research to society benefit different sectors, which are crucial for development and economic growth. Research for health is a wise investment with huge returns for development-this may not be evident to people. The images presented in Art for Research are intended to illustrate how research has quietly but consistently contributed to development.

In the above video PAHO's Director, WHO's Assistant Director General, and the curator of the project introduce the Art for Research Project with stories showing that research for health is an investment that catalyzes social and economic development. You can also listen to the audio podcast on the Art for Research exhibit by PAHO, McMaster Health Forum, Lyons New Media Centre (Oct. 9, 2012).

Collections and Exhibits

Shaping the World: How Health Research Shaped Our World

Fine Art photographer Theo Chalmers collaborates with the Pan American Health Organization to produce a striking exhibition of photographic portraits.

The images invite the viewer to explore the stories behind some of the most significant and influential changes in health, development, and innovation the world has ever seen. Ten stories of influential people or entities who have invested their lives to shape the future by doing research in areas such as HIV which has led to productivity, Alzheimer, child birth and perinatal care, infectious disease eradication, the use of research in effective education, decision making, fairness, quality of care and dignity of the patient.

You can access the full gallery of images on Flickr.

STANDING UP TO POLIO

Dr. Ciro de Quadros is presented beneath a representation of the universal biohazard symbol from which extend two deathly arms each holding a hangman's noose. The noose in each case represents death from infection. However, where Dr. de Quadros and his research on infectious disease is present, the hangman's noose lies broken and therefore posing no threat. The rope hangs directly in front of de Quadros' eyes, showing us how close a relationship he has with his subject matter, how intimate his knowledge is, but also reminding us that infectious diseases are always in front of our eyes. The empty, bleak tree stump on the right of the picture, behind the complete and lethal noose, describes to us the alternative if work like that of de Quadros is not done.

DEVELOPMENT THROUGH EQUITY IN HEALTH

Bernardo Kliksberg has looked closely at the relationship of economics and equity. His research presents new data that offers clear economic benefits to all. The long term outcome is everybody in society benefits — the "haves" just as much as the "have nots." His research relies heavily on the analysis of data describing society. This is reflected in the pictogram-like arrangements of mannequins. The different sized figures represent ethnic groupings, relative wealth, access to education, access to healthcare, and so on. Each of the orange figures raises his hand in a vote for equity. The largest, most powerful figure has succeeded in getting a hold on the benefits promised by Kliksberg's research as embodied by his golden ring. However, as we are still in the aspirational stage, this benefit has not transferred to the other members of society. The figures in the top tier have reached the stage where everyone is benefitting from an equitable society. They are wearing the gold on their heads to show that they no longer have to reach and grasp; it is theirs already but is available to everybody to enjoy. The numbers and faded feel to the figures reminds us that this will take time and has not yet been reached. The purple figures have not voted for equity. One of their number, the largest, enjoys the trappings of success but his gold is worn internally. Additional research may sway new converts, and lead to grater advances in health and economics.

EDUCATION: BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTER R, FOR RESEARCH

Plaza Sesamo's Lola, Elmo, and Cookie Monster show that a world of information, which can be small and out of reach for a young child as represented by the topmost globe, can be effectively magnified and animated into rich, colorful knowledge. Plaza Sesamo's team of researchers looks for the best way to get the message across to their young audience, and in this way each character brings his and her own personalities and roles to bear, adding to the experience of the viewer and ultimately the effectiveness of the message. In this picture you can see, after each research-based character has had their input, the product is multiple world views, and the growth of wisdom, represented in turn by the colored globes and vibrant flowers.

A HEALTHY LAUGH

For Patch Adams healthcare is about the experience. Here we see his trademarks humor, creativity, and joy, which in his vision of healthcare are essential and integral to the healing process. Patch's alternative methods of delivering primary healthcare information have had great success in parts of the world where traditional methods of education have thus far failed. Right at the top is the most comfortable seat in the house, reserved for the patient. It's all about making the patient as comfortable and happy as possible during what Patch describes as being the worst time of you life. Based on research results, Patch paints a different picture of healthcare. Could being in hospital one day be all about having the time of your life, not thinking about how much of it you have left? His bulldozer levels the ground where old, worn out ideas about healthcare once stood. But this is not done without first listening carefully to what is needed to replace them. This is why the colorful sprouts of a new way grow from Patch's ear. Additional research into primary healthcare could change the face of how we practice medicine, and improve the health and happiness of millions of patients around the world.

INNOVATION THROUGH WHICH THE WORLD LISTENS

Dr. Elsa Moreno has worked in the field of perinatal medicine and research since 1952. One can see her field reflected in various ways in this work: the Madonna and child image, a small bronze statue belonging to Dr. Moreno recorded during the portrait sitting at her home in Tucumán, Argentina that she watches over, and the silhouettes of pregnant women in profile that surround her. She has promoted the adoption of effective, simple and accessible alternatives to fetal monitoring, which enhanced the quality of care in resource-poor settings. Images of these monitors can be seen superimposed along her arms. The handwritten '1952 continua...' is repeated in digital text behind Dr. Moreno showing the importance of her work in the past as well as its implications for the future.

GUIDING US TO THE ETHICAL PATH

Paulina Taboada is a bioethicist who uses research to help address moral questions, especially about the treatment of people in the twilight of their lives. Her work helps to inform the difficult decisions that surround what is best for a person as they reach the end of their life. Taboada peers out from behind two skeletal light bulbs — death is being green-lit or red-lit: allowed to occur or prevented from occurring. Her watch, representing the timeline of one's life is bound to a finger resting on the figurative switch which will ultimately decide which light is to be illuminated. Naturally there are many questions surrounding this action. Considerations of all the factors surrounding such important decisions are indeed vast. Research helps highlight how best to apply medical intervention during these twilight days. This alongside the differing range of moral, ethical, religious and cultural mixes in the world opens huge questions.

NAVIGATING THE BRAIN, DISCOVERING OUR FUTURE

Rodolfo Llinas is a neuroscientist who has used research to help understand the brain and how the brain perceives 'the self'. Such is the importance of the brain as an entity on its own right, that Llinas requested that it had its own tree for this portrait. He holds it in his right hand elevated and exposed, revealing some of its magic, electricity and complexity. A key aspect of Llinas' research is on squid brains, which are basic versions of the human brain. His research has led to a better understanding of Alzheimer's disease. The squid that surround him evoke a feeling of the vastness of space. Llinas says that no matter how vast space is, our brain is at the centre of our personal universe. It is therefore imperative that we fund research into it. Without investment into research we cannot expect to progress. It's a no-brainer.

SHARING KNOWLEDGE, IMPROVING QUALITY

Maria Isabel Rodriguez, with her long career developing human resources for health and using research to inform policy decisions, is characterized in this image as having the qualities of a library. A rich source of knowledge, a key means to disseminate understanding to any and all without prejudice or favor, then using this knowledge to enhance the quality of healthcare. She looks out over a book representing her personal understanding of healthcare and from this thousands of smaller books flutter and fly the fruits of her wisdom making their ways to every corner of the Americas and indeed the world, which is depicted through the shadows across her face. The ring pattern made by the books, and her place within it, bring to mind an information symbol. Added to this the cross made as the book bisects the tree stump evokes the gender symbol for women, reflecting her achievement in becoming the first woman dean of the faculty of medicine at the University of El Salvador. Her roots and importance to the people of El Salvador are further reinforced by the silhouette of her country's national bird the Torogoz perched beside the open account of her vast knowledge.

LIVING A FULL LIVE THROUGH RESEARCH

Pedro Cahn works in the areas of clinical research, prevention and direct services for people living with HIV/AIDS. His work shows that now that there is the provision to treat HIV infection, people who are HIV positive can continue to be productive, contributing members of society. They can lead as fulfilling lives as anyone else, and contribute to society in the same ways as people who are not living with the infection. Cahn's right hand clearly represents people living with HIV/AIDS and reflects his view that they have the potential to burden an equal weight as those who are not. The AIDS ribbons are close to Cahn's face showing that when understood there is nothing to fear from the disease. Along his left arm, miniature versions of his right show the progress from treatment to productivity to fulfillment, using PAHO's AIDS awareness symbol as the beneficial climax to understanding, treating and accepting people living with this condition. Treatment is only a partial achievement in HIV/AIDS research. Continued investment in research may one day lead to a cure.

Research on the Move: A Documentary

These successful Research for Health Stories captured in different Latin American countries, reflect the positive impact a good invest decision makes in lives and therefore in countries development. Making the Panama Canal was impossible until Malaria was understood and kangaroo program save lives.

World famous documentary photographer, Jane Dempster devoted her talent and time to travel Latin America supporting PAHO to deliver these beautiful, descriptive, shocking images.

You can access the full image gallery on Flickr.

Milk Banks: A Great Return to Research Inversion

Summary: Milk banks enable working women to provide babies with the best and the most affordable nutrition. Hence, they make it easier for families to thrive preventing them from diverting important income to less beneficial foods. Milk banks have developed as research has provided better understanding of the benefits of breast milk and the preservation of breast milk. Milk banks benefit babies in outpatient and inpatient clinics when either the baby or the mother are unavailable for regular breastfeeding. Jane Dempster visited a milk bank in Guatemala to document the uptake of milk banks, how these adapt to cultural needs and how they serve communities.

Kangaroo mother care - Love's Research as and endless resource

Summary: Each year about 20 million infants of low birth weight are born worldwide, which imposes a heavy burden on healthcare and social systems in developing countries. Medical care of low birth weight infants is complex, demands an expensive infrastructure and highly skilled staff, and is often a very disruptive experience for families.

Premature babies in poorly resourced settings often end up in understaffed and ill equipped neonatal care units, which may be turned into potentially deadly traps by a range of factors colluding-for example, malfunctioning incubators, broken monitors, overcrowding, nosocomial infections, etc. In 1978 Edgar Rey, a Colombian pediatrician concerned with the problems arising from a shortage of incubators and the impact of separating women from newborns in neonatal care units, developed Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC), a healthcare technique for low birth weight infants that is at least as effective as traditional care in a neonatal care unit.

Research that nurtures healthy development

Summary: Some of the most striking health developments come from research conducted with other sectors, such as education and agriculture. In the next series of images Jane Dempster reminds us with her images that better food safety and hygiene have led to dramatic health improvements. There is a better understanding of healthy eating and healthy habits, and kids learn from an early age about basic (yet tremendously effective) hygiene interventions. Education, sanitation, access to quality water and food have proven to be tremendous determinants of health and development.

The Institute of Nutrition of Central America and Panama INCAP, a PAHO/WHO Center, has been a key player in research about nutrition. Its research has shown that the negative effects of malnutrition can be lasting, affecting children's development to the point of affecting subsequent generations.

Through the development of relevant research, INCAP has brought significant contributions to understand the effects of malnutrition and to assess the effects of nutritional supplementation for mothers and young children. For over 6 decades INCAP (funded in 1949) has conducted research with a holistic approach and engaging relevant sectors to benefit people's health, development and quality of life. As the images illustrate, this includes community research, field research basic research, clinical research -different approaches to address questions about nutrition.

The findings of INCAP studies showed that supplementary feeding of infants and young children benefited their cognitive and behavioral development and school performance through their teenage years and could result in better academic performance leading to opportunities for development and poverty alleviation.

Cisalva Institute - The institute for peace promotion and violence prevention

Summary: The birth of CISALVA Institute dates back to 1992, when local government aims to formalize through a local policy, all efforts that would allow the construction of living in the city of Cali Colombia.

With That idea in mind, In 1995 Valle University decided to establish the Research Centre "Health and Violence", with the intention to collaborate in the identification of factors associated with violence, relations between them and through them, to construction of proposals to address it.

A year later, in March 1996, the center was named partner of PAHO / WHO Latin American region in promoting coexistence and prevention of injuries and violence.

Since 2002, the Institute and the Colombia Program at Georgetown University have developed and implemented more than 20 epidemiologically based municipal crime observatories in intermediate-sized municipalities in Colombia. These crime observatories serve as monitoring centers that provide low cost, geo-referenced methods of data collection and analysis, which allow cities to develop more responsive policies and prevention programs and enhance governance.

The Institute focuses its efforts in the consolidation of six basic lines of research: Surveillance Systems; Mental Health; Domestic Violence; Social Communication for Behavioral Change; Evaluation; Human Resource Training.

Research on Health to Building the Progress

Summary: People sometimes struggle to illustrate how research for health brings overall benefit to society, generates wealth and development. To Panamanians it is pretty clear. The Canal bridging the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, a key route to the world's commerce is an everyday reminder of this, of the importance of scientific development and the different stages of research.

In June 1904 the first group of American medical personnel arrived in Panama, led by U.S. Army Colonel William C. Gorgas. Gorgas was an officer who had been deeply involved in the successful eradication of yellow fever from Havana, Cuba. He was immune to 'yellow jack', as it was often called, because he had recovered from a milder case while serving with the army. As chief sanitary officer on the canal project, Gorgas implemented far-reaching sanitary programs including fumigation, mosquito netting, draining ponds and swamps, and public water systems.

These measures as well as new research were instrumental in permitting the construction of the Canal, as they significantly prevented illness due to yellow fever and malaria among the thousands of workers involved in the building project and also important: Panama recorded its last case of yellow jack in 1905.

In 1929 it was inaugurated the Gorgas Commemorative Institute to continue conducting research in the specialized fields of Tropical Medicine. Today the institute also works in Preventive Medicine, Management in Health, Development, Innovation of Technologies, Society and Environment. It's Scientific Library keep the original publications of all of the Institute's prestigious researchers.

Transformation for Development

Shelly Xie, a medical student from Texas, combines art and science to shed light on the impact neglected diseases have on poor communities. Using sand and a light box, she touches on the causes and determinants of various infectious diseases, presents several options for addressing these problems, and illustrates the challenges of the disease burden on the health system.

Shelly began using sand painting to communicate the impact of schistosomiasis in Ghana during her later years at Stanford. Her research and performances build on this experience but further elucidate the role that research plays in facilitating social and economic development.

The sand paintings that Shelly creates in Transformation for Development are not just art. They are visual demonstrations of how research changes lives and the realization of her passion for using science to make this world a healthier place. In her narrations research becomes a driver of social and economic development that tackles the determinants of health.

This exhibit features two neglected diseases prevalent in the Americas, Hookworm infestation and Chagas Disease. Addressing them requires that functional health systems work side by side with other sectors of government and society.

Sickle Cell Disease

This is the story of Alvita, a 25-year-old woman living in the northern region of Jamaica, who has sickle cell disease. By narrating Alvita's story using sand painting, Shelly describes the challenges that persons with the disease face, and how research for health can transform lives by enabling people with sickle cell to live a more productive and fulfilling life.

Jamaica was a leading country in offering extensive newborn screening for sickle cell disease and has implemented near-universal screening as of December 2015; a timely diagnosis can help improving people's wellbeing. Through Alivita's story Shelly explains that progress has been made in research, education and prevention, and what is needed to improve treatment modalities and affordability, as well as competence of health care workers in caring for people with sickle cell.

A better future for the new baby

In a rural area in northern Argentina lives a couple that relies on farming for their livelihood. They are unaware, however, that the area where they reside is endemic for a chronic disease. Furthermore, they do not realize that when their baby is born, it might be born with the disease or contract the disease.

Shelly uses this hypothetical story as the backdrop to her first story which not only explains the epidemiological aspects of Chagas Disease, which is transmitted by the Triatomine "kissing" bugs, but also explores the prevention and treatment techniques. Xie brings up the socio-economic factors at play and shows how interventions including vaccine development, insecticide use and using bed nets, hold the key to saving million of lives, and thus, boost local economies within the Americas.

Creating opportunities for the Silva's

The Silva family lives in a little village in Eastern Brazil called Americaninhas. They live in a small hut with a thatched roof and no toilet. The father, Antonio works in the field cultivating cassava roots. Barefoot, he works through the moist, red soil surrounding the home. However, getting through each day is difficult for him because every part of his body that touches the soil itches. He tires easily and suffers from abdominal pains that stop him from working. Likewise, for other members of this family, living is a battle-their children grow very little each year and have problems concentrating in school.

Shelly describes the endless cycle for people who suffer from hookworm infections and the burden the disease causes for families. Hookworm infection reduces earning potential, educational prospects and quality of life for people in endemic regions. It is a disease caused by poverty and contributes to poverty. However, through her story, Shelly shows that there is hope and how research works to end this vicious cycle.