Is it morally right to raise awareness of health conditions for which no (or very few) treatment and care services are available? As Gede continues to raise awareness about key mental health issues (initially within the context of people living positively), the issue of service provision is becoming pivotal. Today, I enjoyed a fascinating meeting with Jess McQuail, Director of Social Business with Basic Needs (www.basicneeds.org) which offers an innovative model of community based mental health treatment and care provision through social franchising (which has impacted on the lives of over 600 000 people around the world since being launched three years ago). During our meeting, we agreed that there are clearly areas of mutual interest for us to explore for the benefit of our target audiences - and to keep in touch with this developing story, follow our blogs! jminto@gedefoundation.org
HIV/AIDS & Mental Health – Perspectives of a Medical Doctor - Part 2
I am reminded of a young couple whom I met in my course of my duties as a medical doctor at the Gede Foundation. They had recently gotten married then about two years when they were both diagnosed as being HIV positive. The husband was in denial, rejected the diagnosis and took to drinking huge amounts of alcohol as a way of expressing his frustrations. His abuse of alcohol was so profound that as early as 8am when he comes for his doctor’s appointment one can perceive the stench of alcohol. He subsequently became aggressive at home which manifested in wife battery, as well as refusal to start antiretroviral medication despite laboratory results that showed they would be key to prolonging his life. These series of events gave both himself and his wife a poor outcome to management of the HIV infection, thus his HIV/AIDS condition (which is treatable) has been complicated by the man’s poor mental health and given him and his wife a poor prognosis. The poor mental health of the man changed what can be said to be a simple situation to a complicated one both for them as the clients and for me as the care provider. Please join me in my next blog for the outcome of this story. Dr. Michael Ameh can be reached on mameh@gedefoundation.org
HIV/AIDS & Mental Health – Perspectives of a Medical Doctor - Part 1 - Intro
I have had this experience working as a doctor with the Gede Foundation and treating people living with HIV/AIDS. Overtime I have developed a close professional relationship with a number of them and have been privileged to know of the emotional pain they and their families/ caregivers go through. The HIV positive diagnosis brings with it a pang of conflicting emotions that range from denial, disbelief, surprise, sadness, reflection and even outright depression with suicidal tendencies in some extreme cases. A deeper understanding of the emotional trauma being experienced by individuals diagnosed with HIV and their caregivers would be discussed in more details in my subsequent blog. Dr. Michael Ameh can be reached on mameh@gedefoundation.org
Gede Foundation and Elemental Wellbeing (The Gambia)
On Tuesday July 8 2014, John Minto (Managing Director of Gede) and Marion Aslan (Founder of Elemental Wellbeing – www.elementalwellbeing.org) met in Doncaster, UK, to discuss the innovative way in which Elemental Wellbeing has addressed mental health awareness and training in The Gambia. As regular readers of Gede’s blogs will know, the Foundation is currently working on raising awareness of mental health issues across a wide range of organisations and, within this process, we are reaching out to others who have had significant success in other settings. John’s UK visit will also see him meet with a range of major mental health agencies and blogs will update readers on his meetings in due course. For more information contact John Minto jminto@gedefoundation.org
Is it possible for children to have mental health issues?
Hi there, Solape Bamijoko is back as usual with her human angle stories on mental health. I happened to listen to a conversation between an aunty and her niece a couple of days ago.
Aunty: Hey Laila! Look at you! Its really been ages since I saw you, you are a big girl now. Hmm this can only mean that sooner than I imagine you will be in the boarding school.
Laila: Excuse me aunty! Boarding school ??? Have you forgotten I am a girl?
(While I guess the aunty was still puzzled as to what being a girl has to do with boarding school and probably pondering.)
Laila : Please I don’t want to get kidnapped!!! I would rather remain at home if boarding school is the last option!
I was really amazed and amused by this conversation but on a second thought, I identified some underlying mental health issues in this discussion and I asked myself is it possible that this young girl is being distressed psychologically considering the current issues in the country? In the light of that can such a child have 100% concentration where her academics are concerned? How can we reach young people with mental health awareness programs? I look forward to your contribution to these challenging issues. I can be reached on obamijoko@gedefoundation.org.
Monthly Mental Health Dialogue (MMHD) @ Gede Foundation
Hi, my name is Ekaette Udoekong. I am the Mental Health Program Officer at The Gede Foundation. As part of Gede’s effort to support and promote the Nigerian government’s drive in strengthening inter-sectoral linkages on Mental Neurological and Substance (MNS) abuse issues, the Foundation is initiating a series themed “Monthly Mental Health Dialogue”. This activity will bring key players in the health, prison, police, education, civil society sectors within Mental Health together for mutual exchange of ideas and experiences. It will be a platform for free interfacing, understanding, possible collaboration and dissemination of information. For more information and booking to be at the dialogue in August send a mail to eudoekong@gedefoundation.org
Gede Foundation dialogues with Management Strategies for Africa (MSA) on Mental Health
Gede’s continued effort to increase awareness of mental health among interested parties saw the Foundation visiting MSA on Friday 27th June, 2014. The very interesting talk ended with MSA staff enquiring in particular about how to cope with stress within the Nigerian context in view of current bombings, insecurity, traffic especially in the Federal Capital Territory where they reside. In their own opinion a large number of Nigerians are going through undue stress and recommendations on how to cope with the current situation were apt. These would include refusing to be fearful and intimidated, being security conscious and giving useful information to security agencies. For enquiries about Gede Foundation’s Mental Health Awareness Program please email Ekaette Udoekong on eudoekong@gedefoundation.org.
Gede Supports HIV Stigma Index Survey
June 19 and 20 2014 saw the Gede Foundation support our partner, The Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) in a 2 day training seminar on the forthcoming HIV Stigma Index Survey.
The survey tools capture responses across the following areas including stigma, access to work education, rights, laws and policies, effecting change, testing and diagnosis, treatment and child bearing among people living with HIV/AIDS.
The survey, which will be carried out across the country, is jointly supported by National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) and Enhancing Nigeria’s Response to HIV and AIDS (ENR). This initiative is of great interest to the Foundation as we remain passionate about addressing the root causes of stigma, most particularly in terms of the barriers it erects in terms of quality services offered to people living positively. For more on Gede’s research activities and The Stigma Index please contact Cynthia Ticao through cjticao@gedefoundation.org
Gede Foundation meets with the President, Nigerian Psychological Association, Dr Andrew Zamani
On Wednesday 25th June 2014, the team of Managing Director and staff of Gede Foundation welcomed Dr Andrew Zamani to their office for a courtesy call. The visit was intended to explore areas of possible collaboration between the Foundation and the Association in the areas of research and capacity building considering Gede’s evolving programme focusing on areas of mental health, neurological and substance abuse as well as other stigmatized illnesses. The Professor commended Gede for developing a programme in such an underserved and highly stigmatized health burden and was especially encouraged in terms of Gede's programme to further coordinate CSOs agencies working within mental health. For more on Gede’s research and capacity building activities please contact Cynthia Ticao through cjticao@gedefoundation.org
Helping positive people live longer and better…
One of the ways in which we can all support people living positively is by advocating for a greater awareness of mental health conditions within treatment and care regimes. Gede is currently encoding the data we received from interviewing over 100 HIV-AIDS Adherence Counselors to assess their levels of awareness with regard to a range of important mental health conditions. This data will be analysed with our partners, NEPWHAN, and will lead to innovative and long lasting skills development within the Adherence Counselors who, in turn, will be increasingly effective for their positive clients. For further information about this research along with ways to receive a copy of the final report, please email John Minto – jminto@gedefoundation.org