Music & Motherhood Meeting

Hosted by the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Lab, this international conference at UN City in Copenhagen delved into the relationship between music and motherhood, as well as arts and health and social prescribing more broadly. The largest study of its kind by WHO, Music and Motherhood spanned five cities and engaged participants in four languages, looking at the positive health effects of group singing on new mothers with symptoms of postpartum depression. The conference was attended by the researchers and mothers who participated in the historic study, as well as Jakob Engel-Schmidt (Danish Minister of Culture), with talks from Ameer Shaheed (WHO consultant), and researchers Katey Warran and Callum Smith, who presented an overview of the findings, moderated by Dr Nisha Sajnani (Founding Co-Director, JAHL). The event, supported by the Central Denmark Region and in collaboration the Lab and the Behavioural and Cultural Insights Unit at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, explored how WHO European member states could integrate art-based interventions into healthcare practices.