The social determinants of health—things like jobs, transportation, neighborhoods, and housing affect our lives and the lives of our families, friends, and communities. Just imagine—if you don’t have a good job, how can you buy healthy food? If you don’t have a way to get to work, how can you get a good job? If your neighborhood doesn’t have a safe place to play, how can you get enough exercise? If you don’t have somewhere safe to live, how can you avoid feeling tired and stressed out? The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), a nonprofit research organization in Washington, DC, wants to prevent factors like these from holding people back.
How do the social determinants of health shape your life and the lives of your family and community? How would you make sure your friends, family, and community all have the same chance to be healthy, safe, and happy?
NAM is calling on young leaders, ages 5-26, to use art to explore how the social determinants of health play a role in shaping their lives and their communities, and what it might look and feel like to one day live in a world where everyone has the same chance to be healthy, safe, and happy.
Young Leaders Visualize Health Equity aims to use art as a vehicle for collecting valuable insights from young people around the world about how the social determinants of health shape their lives and the lives of those closest to them. NAM hopes the art, and the process of creating the
NAM envisions this project as one way for young people to share their own visions of what the world might look like when everyone has the same chance to be healthy, safe, and happy. NAM hopes that the stories they capture through their art will allow viewers to more fully understand how the social determinants of health impact everyone, including young people and their loved ones, and why it is critical to understand and improve these factors so that future generations can thrive.
Learn more and submit your artwork at NAM.edu.