The third edition of Hamwe Festival on Wednesday, November 10, opened in Kigali with the aim to address pandemics, confinement and social changes.

Organised by University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), the annual festival was initiated as a platform that brings the health sector together with creative industries.

While the first edition of the festival explored a diverse range of possible collaborations between creative industries and health sectors and the second edition discussing mental health and social justice through the prism of the arts and art-based research, this year’s edition reflects on the social changes that have occurred since the start of the covid-19 pandemic in late 2019 and, particularly, how these changes have affected the health and social systems and inequities within them.

A number of participants across the globe varying from artists and scholars to community organisers and health professionals are gathering in this year’s festival virtually to reflect how the pandemic interacted with diverse but linked issues such as family structure, elderly care, healthcare financing, community solidarity, taxation, migration, mental health, climate change, biodiversity as well as the important role of creativity and the arts.

The five-day festival has attracted 76 participants from 30 countries, 20 performers and 16 panels addressing the impact of covid-19 on global health and the role of arts.

While officially opening the festival at Kigali Public Library, Prof Agnes Binagwaho, the Vice-Chancellor and co-founder of University of Global Health Equity said that she expects awareness about the possibility that arts give while using it for the compliment of healing.

"Studies have shown that, with the use of arts, the patient heals faster, needs less pain killer and a festival like this one where you have people from six continents coming together to discuss these research experiences and the way forward to use arts because there is no nation that does not have arts,” Binagwaho said.

"So we want to promote better health and wellness for the people by creating awareness on the impact of arts on health and wellness,” she added.

Like Binagwaho, Edouard Bamporiki, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Youth and Culture, believes in the power of arts in coping with mental health caused by the pandemic like it has helped Rwandans to overcome the trauma caused by the  Genocide against the Tutsi.

Fast-rising cultural music duo Ange ad Pamela graced the opening of the festival while Kivumbi King, Manzi Le Poet and Stella Tushabe, commonly known as Stella Tush, are also expected to perform.

This interaction will also feature renowned artists Michael Makembe, Weya Viatora, Greta Ingabire, Impakanizi and Mackson alongside Nigerian storyteller Andrew Esiebo.