Mental Health

This project allows the Africa Mental Health Foundation and the University of British Columbia to adapt NextGenU.org's model of free, high-quality computer-based distance learning to train the primary care workforce in Kenya to screen and manage substance use disorders. Follow Africa Mental Health Foundation Kenya on Twitter @amhf_kenya

Improving access to high-quality treatment and rehabilitation services for people with mental disorders in India

Ending the restraint, seclusion, neglect and abuse — physical, sexual, and emotional — of mental health patients is the goal of a project in India’s Gujarat state nominated for a Grand Challenges Canada grant of up to CAD $2 million.

Jamaica has the world’s third highest homicide rate (53 per 100,000), with Kingston’s inner-city communities socially isolated by violence and gangs.  In collaboration with a government-run Community Mental Health (CMH) program in two inner-city communities, this project will target high-risk Grade 3 students, and the wider youth and adult populations with a Community Engagement Cultural Therapy (CECT) program.  The effort involves group discussion of painful issues and uses drama, song and dance to translate and help express concerns.

We are introducing practical e-health solutions in Badakshan province, Afghanistan to improve mental health by reducing stigma amongst the population, providing direct intervention for young adults through cell phones, raising skill and knowledge levels of health care workers (community, clinic, hospital) through e-learning, and providing virtual tele-consultations for service delivery.

Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, has a long history of violence and natural disasters, consequences of which include post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and increased family violence.  The country also has the region’s highest suicide rates, and the country’s highest rates of psychiatric illness, addictions and suicide are found in the 15- to 24-year-old age group.  Over two years, this project working in secondary and post-secondary schools in Leon, Nicaragua will promote early mental illness identification, the r

Alcohol-use disorders are the second leading cause of global mental health-related burden of disease. Alcohol Dependence (AD) often leads to violence, domestic abuse, stigma, reduced productivity, job loss, social isolation and healthcare costs. In India alone, upwards of 26 percent of people who drink have AD. Healthcare for AD is restricted to de-addiction services delivered in underfunded, tertiary-care centres. These centres focus primarily on providing institutional, medically-assisted detoxification without any psychosocial interventions or structured follow-up.

The Emberá community in Colombia consists of approximately 90,000 persons and has one of the highest rates of suicide and attempted suicide, particularly in children, adolescents and young adults. This trend is congruent with other indigenous communities in this and other regions of the world, and is attributed to many reasons, including rapid cultural change, loss of land, family disintegration, exposure to conflict and violence, and extreme poverty.

In a part of the world locked consistently in violent conflict since 1989, and where there is no access to government mental healthcare services, researchers have documented a 30-fold increase in mental disorders. Using cell phones, netbooks and other electronic media, researchers will overcome barriers to mental healthcare access by training lay health workers to deliver and evaluate care in the rural Ganderbal district, with particular focus on psychotic, bipolar and depressive disorders, as well as trauma-related problems.

In Kenya, violence against women is a potent risk factor for depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress and other common mental disorders, for which no or minimal mental health support is provided.  This project will test the effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioural Treatment (CBT) as a way for para-professionals in low-income settings to help such women, creating a much-needed template for interventions that could be contextualized and rolled out for different violence-affected populations globally, engaging government structures to ensure sustainability. "