Gede Foundation leading in fight against mental health stigmatisation

The joy of Mr Johnson knew no bounds when his wife Betty gave birth to their first baby, three years ago. It was prayer answered as they had waited on God for the miracle of conception two years into their marriage. The naming ceremony some eight days after by some friends, neighbours and church members was well attended in their modest home at Mpape, a suburb of Abuja, Federal Capital Territory.
The baby and mother were doing very well until two weeks after when Johnson, a taxi driver, came back home to meet a different woman. His wife was behaving abnormally: very irritable, aggressive. Her mood swings from complete taciturn to shouting and use of abusive language. The baby in her cot lay crying, unattended to.
Johnson who is usually welcomed home with a hug by his wife was confused. A very religious person, the first thing that came to his mind was that the enemy is at work. His wife has been “attacked”, an “evil arrow” has been fired at her. Johnson called his pastor who requested that he brought his wife to the church not far from their home for special deliverance prayer.
Thus began Betty’s two-year sojourn in the church where she was chained and prayed for every day to exorcise the demon. Unknown to her husband and the pastor, the woman was suffering from post-natal depression which may happen to new mothers. What she needed was care and counseling by qualified medics in a hospital not “deliverance”.
It was in that state that the officials of Gede Foundation, on a community outreach and sensitization on mental health met Betty. Established in 2002 by Dr. Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar ,a journalist and lawyer, Gede Foundation is a non-governmental organisation with the objective of providing services for “under served and highly stigmatized populations”.
It was the first non-governmental organization in Nigeria to provide a one-stop shop for high quality treatment, care and counseling in HIV/AIDS, including training, advocacy and research. After successfully tackling HIV/AIDS stigmatization for 12 years (2003-2014) Gede Foundation shifted focus to mental health which from a joint research conducted in partnership with Institute of Human Virology, found out that there is a prevalence of depression, alcohol use and suicide among HIV population in Nigeria. This research finding gave birth to the numerous projects which Gede Foundation is doing on mental health in Nigeria.
Mr. Godwin Etim, director, Partnership Management and Resource Mobilisation, Gede Foundation said that it was while they were at Mpape community in Abuja for mental health advocacy that the case of a woman chained in a church was brought to their notice.
“While we were there somebody gave us a hint that there is a woman that has been chained and kept in a church for nearly two years. We went there and met the woman in a very bad state: chained to a pole, dirty, emaciated and incoherent. We met the pastor who told us that they have been praying for her and believing God for miracle healing since her husband brought her two years ago. We asked if we could get a doctor to examine her and he said we should tell the husband . A call was put to him and he came to the church. He said the woman was violent and did not want her to kill him and the baby hence he brought her to the church, but we can go ahead,” Etim said, adfing that the doctor examined her, placed her on medication and within two months she had started speaking normally.
“By the fifth month she was completely well and left the church to her house and back to her tailoring shop. This is the woman they said was mad for two years. She joined our Mental Health Support group and within a short time she became the leader of the group,” Etim narrated.
Anita Ikwue, a 23-year undergraduate of National Open University Abuja has a similar story. She lost her father when she was four. Things were difficult as the family could not cope in the absence of the bread winner. Anita’s mother’s first attempt to remarry ended abruptly as the man died during a brief illness.
“He was very caring. Even though he was not my biological father, I saw in him a good and kind father. To lose him so soon was traumatic for me,” Anita said.
Her mother eventually remarried when Anita was eight, but she suffered abuse in the hands of the step-father that at the age of 10 she became depressed. In 2015 at age 17, now a student of Philosophy at Benue State University Makurdi, Anita’s mental illness became obvious that she was rushed to a psychiatric hospital. She was moved from there by her relations to different churches and shrines in search of a cure.
“At one of the shrines, a man old enough to be my grandfather bathed me naked in order to wash away the alleged evil spirit in me, my hair was shaved, they burnt some substances and forced me to sniff it,” Anita narrated.
Because of stigmatization, Anita could not continue her studies at Benue State University. Gede Foundation heard her story and picked her up, rehabilitated her through counseling and care and trained her as a Gede Foundation Champion to share her experience of mental health issues among communities both physical and online.
Gede Foundation’s Board led by Dr. Jennifer Douglas-Abubukar has also provided much funding to drive awareness and remove stigma associated with mental health.
According to Dr. Douglas-Abubakar, NGOs in mental health face lots of challenges in Nigeria. Notable among them is the lack of mental health Bill which could have provided strategic framework for all players to be guided in implementation.
“The mental health Policy (which is not yet an Act ) is not backed with implementation guidelines and sufficient legal provisions,” Dr.Douglas-Abubakar explained.
According to her, stakeholders, NGOs, Civil Society organizations, clinicians and academic institutions have made some milestones in engaging with the legislature and the mental Health Bill is awaiting the third and final reading at the National Assembly. “There is hope that this would be achieved in 2021”, she said.
Stigma and discrimination resulting from lack of knowledge and right information from both healthcare workers and the user groups is another challenge facing NGOs in mental health, according to Douglas-Abubakar.
“Mental health specialists in Nigeria are very few and services are inadequate and this has burdened patient-clinician ratio for quality service,” she said, adding that healthcare workers especially at the Primary Healthcare facilities are not trained on mental health services provision even though this is supposed to be part of their mandate.
NGOs have to deal with these and many other challenges in order to make reasonable impacts in mental health services delivery in Nigeria.
Dr. Douglas-Abubakar said that Gede Foundation has begun the training of healthcare workers on Mental Health Action Program (mhGAP)—WHO’s mental health programme for non-specialists in low and medium income communities.
“In August 2020, Gede trained 160 clinicians including nurses, Cummunity Health Extension Workers(CHEW), doctors, psychiatric nurses, psychologists and psychiatrists on the validated and approved five modules for community mental health and development programmes in Plateau, Nasarawa states and the Federal Capital Territory”, she explained.
Stakeholders and clinicians on mental health are in unison that to tackle mental illness in Nigeria government should provide workable policies and infrastructure for mental health services, promote community mental health programmes where uptake of services are community-based and create an enabling environment for NGOs to implement mental health services. These programmes include sensitization, mobilization and psycho-education at the primary health facilities.
Despite the efforts of Gede Foundation and other NGOs to tackle the rising incidence of mental health in Nigeria, not much has been done at the level of government to address frontally the issue. Every day we hear or read about suicide, homicide cases in the family and communities yet these have been greeted with inertia by the government.
“Mental health should be recognized from the policy level as an essential health service such as Malaria, Obesity, HIV/AIDS, says Mr. Joseph Odogwu, managing director, Gede Foundation.
“That people are wearing clothes and appear normal on the surface does not mean they are alright. We need to curb the scourge of mental health through concerted actions by the government, international donor agencies and non-profits like Gede Foundation before we are all consumed”, Odogwu said.

Culled from Sun News Online

Tackling Mental Health Challenge in Nigeria in a Period of Global Pandemic

Culled from AllAfrica

ANALYSISBy Mike Nzeagwu, journalist and public analyst

It was the late journalist and essayist, Dele Giwa who once wrote that Nigerians are 'unshockable'. But this piece of news Tuesday, May 12, 2020 that had flooded the social media was very shocking if not numbing. A 22 year lady, Ms Funmilola Adisa had drowned her 18-month old baby in a bucket full of water at her Gowon Estate residence in Lagos. She told the police that the baby which she got outside wedlock was an obstacle to her fulfilling her lifelong ambition of becoming a lawyer. There was no remorse, no iota of regret for her actions. This happened at the peak of the lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Elsewhere in Nnewi, Anambra State in Eastern Nigeria, a man identified as Emeka Ezimmadu last September reportedly killed his mother and two children with a machete. The timely intervention of neighbours and the local vigilante saved the lives of his wife and two other children who were treated for various degrees of body harm at the hospital.

While the community believed that Emeka, 40, was under the spell of an evil spirit, he must have indeed suffered a mental relapse resulting in such a despicable act of killing his own children and mother.

Mental and behavioral disorders affect people of all nationalities regardless of age, sex and financial status.  Recounting his battle with depression for over two years in a social media post recently, a Nigerian business man Mr. Femi Fowora said: "people erroneously assume that because you are well- to- do you cannot suffer depression. My reality was different and for over two years I felt the full wrath of depression". Mr. Fowora thereafter announced the establishment of Otunba Olufemi Emmanuel Fowora Foundation with take-off grant of N500m to fight the scourge of mental illness in Nigeria.

In Nigeria, not much attention has been paid to mental health in official circles despite being endemic in both urban and rural communities. While there is a considerable level of policy and action as it relates to malaria, HIV/AIDS among other diseases, same cannot be said of mental illness. While millions suffer from different forms of mental illness but appear normal , those who visibly suffer mental illness  are stigmatized and avoided even by family members. A  Mental Health in Nigeria Survey conducted by Africa Polling Institute (API) in partnership EpiAfric in 2019 and published in January 2020, estimates that  20% - 30% of the Nigerian population are believed to suffer from mental health disorders. "The reason for this high figure has been attributed to economic hardship, negative environmental externalities and the rising cost of decent living in the country", the Report concluded.

Indeed mental illness in Nigeria was exacerbated during the lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The insurgence in the North East, North West and some parts of North Central  leading to families and villagers being displaced from their ancestral homes and loss of means of income and livelihood have also been a major causative factor in the rise of incidence of mental disorder in Nigeria.

The lockdown also saw the rise in domestic violence and sexual abuse against women and children as family members were compelled to stay together for longer periods than they had been used to leading to arguments, frictions and misunderstanding.

With public health institutions completely overwhelmed by the Covid-19 pandemic and governments and corporate organisations diverting resources to curtail the spread, mental health issues were left unattended to. Even the Nigerian Police and other statutory agencies that would have handled the issue of domestic and sexual violence were not accessible as a result of the lockdown. Family members, afraid and traumatized, were at a loss on how to handle the behavioural disorders noticeable among one of their own. Most common among these mental disorders is depression. According to medical experts depression is characterized by sadness, withdrawn syndrome or loss of interest, low self-esteem, lack of appetite among other symptoms.

With dearth of mental health facilities and personnel in Nigeria even before the medical complications occasioned by Covid-19, many mental non-profit organisations in the country have risen to fill the lacuna. One of such is Gede Foundation with its headquarters at Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Founded in 2002 by Dr. Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar, Journalist, lawyer, Philanthropist, Gede Foundation was established "to cater for underserved and highly stigmatized population". After an extensive work spanning over 12 years on HIV/AIDS advocacy, counseling and care, Gede Foundation shifted focus to mental health which it identified as the next scourge especially among people living with HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Godwin Etim, Director, Partnership Management and Resource Mobilization, Gede Foundation said the non-profit organisation has done excessive work in areas of advocacy, counseling and care in recent months following the increase in mental disorder as a result of Covid-19 lockdown and insurgency in some parts of the country. According to him, Gede Foundation provided mental health support to frontline workers: doctors, nurses, laboratory attendants through online platform during Covid-19 lockdown to keep them in a stable frame of mind to attend to handle health emergencies.  Besides, Etim said Gede Foundation engaged several communities to create awareness about mental health and reduce stigmatization of people suffering from mental illness using trained Mental Health Champions (survivors of mental health) in Mpape, Durumi, Mararaba and other suburbs of Abuja and in communities in Plateau, Benue and Nasarawa states. In partnership with Christian Blind Mission (CBM), United Kingdom, Gede Foundation embarked on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) projects constructing boreholes and providing mental health and livelihood support under the North Central Transitional AID in Nigeria which will run from October 2019 – March 2023.

Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) is another non-governmental organisation making great impact in mental health advocacy, counseling and de-stigmatization in Nigeria. Reputed as the largest youth run and youth focused mental health organisation with over active 15,000 volunteers  across Nigeria ,MANI is "a community of young people who are motivated to fight stigma and create an awareness for their mental health without fear of discrimination," according to information on its website. Dr Victor Ugo Co-founder of MANI and himself a survivor of mental health disorder while at the medical school, said in a recent interview that his organisation is daily inundated with calls by families of people suffering from one mental health disorder or the other needing help to manage them. He said through the monthly program Conversation Café, an enabling environment is provided for people to come together "to talk about mental health, participate in activities to improve their knowledge of mental health as well as build adequate coping mechanism."

Dr Ugo counsels those suffering from mental health to "find and join a community of people with similar experiences as even the smallest of community supporting you, can make your recovery journey just a little bit easier."

She Writes Woman (SWW)Foundation is another non-governmental organisation partnering with Women at Risk Foundation during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide broad based group and confidential counseling services as well as virtual  support groups for victims of gender based violence. Founded in 2016 by Ms Hauwa Ojeifo, SWW is a "women-led movement of love, hope and support that gives mental health a voice in Nigeria." Ms Ojeifo won the Changemaker Award by Goalkeepers of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2019 for the impact her organisation has made in mental health advocacy and counseling services among women who have suffered domestic violence and sexual abuse.

According to Dr. Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar, NGOs in mental health face lots of challenges in Nigeria. Notable among them is the lack of mental health Bill which could have provided strategic framework for all players to be guided in implementation. "The mental health Policy (which is not yet an ACT) is not backed with implementation guidelines and sufficient legal provisions," Dr.Douglas-Abubakar explained. According to her, stakeholders, NGOs, Civil Society organizations, Clinicians and academic institutions have made some milestones in engaging with the legislature and the mental Health Bill is awaiting the Third and final reading at the National Assembly. "There is hope that this would be achieved in 2021", she said.

Stigma and discrimination resulting from lack of knowledge and right information from both healthcare workers and the user groups is another challenge facing NGOs inn mental health according to Douglas-Abubakar.   "Mental health specialists in Nigeria are very few and services are inadequate and this has burdened patient-clinician ratio for quality service," she said, adding that healthcare workers especially at the Primary Healthcare facilities are not trained on mental health services provision even though this is supposed to be part of their mandate.

NGOs have to deal with these and many other challenges in order to make reasonable impacts in mental health services delivery in Nigeria.  Dr. Douglas-Abubakar  said that Gede Foundation has begun the training of healthcare workers on Mental Health Action Program (mhGAP)—WHO's mental health programme for non-specialists in low and medium income communities.  "In August 2020, Gede trained  160 clinicians including Nurses, CHEWS, Doctors, Psychiatric Nurses, Psychologists and Psychiatrists on the validated and approved five  modules for community mental health and development programmes in Plateau, Nasarawa states and the Federal Capital Territory", she explained.

Stakeholders and clinicians on mental health are in unison that to tackle mental illness in Nigeria   government should provide workable policies and infrastructure for mental health services, promote community mental health programmes where uptakes of services are community-based and create an enabling environment for NGOs to implement mental health services.  These programmes include sensitization, mobilization and psycho-education at the primary health facilities. NGOs are efficient in conducting capacity building activities for healthcare workers and community members. Government should partner with such initiatives.

Besides, people with mental health challenge are still being stigmatized and discriminated against even by family members and friends making it difficult for them to access counseling and care in good time. There is urgent need to create more awareness and education on mental health in Nigeria for better understanding and empathy and hence end stigma. The huge negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people's income, job, business and other means of livelihood is only pointing to one direction: mental health disorder is going to be on the increase as people battle for life and livelihood.

Gede Foundation Commemorates World Mental Health Day 2020

On the 9th, 10th and 12th October 2020, Gede planned and carried out activities in different locations to commemorate 2020 World Mental Health Day (WMHD). The theme for this year’s WMHD is “move for mental health - time to invest” 

In the Federal Capital Territory, a social contact event was led by Gede’s Mental Health Champions (people with lived experience of mental health problems), interacting with people without mental health problems through face-to-face conversations, online, radio and television channels. Champions were supported by a Clinical Psychologist from Sunshine Series and Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative, where discussions focused on promoting investment into mental health service delivery at all level as well as roles of major stakeholders including governments were carried out on Facebook.

Mental health awareness and discussions continued in Mpape community where members of mental health self-help groups (established by Gede) sensitized the community.

In Plateau and Nassarawa States, awareness and counseling sessions were held at Primary Healthcare Centres in Riyom and Obi local government areas respectively. Clinicians provided psycho education and one-on-one counseling to participants. They were supported by health workers at the facilities. Over 200 people were reached in both locations and plans are underway to continue with mental health camps at the locations.

Continue to visit the our website with more updates on Gede’s mental health activities in the States

How the Covid-19 pandemic affected my mental health

An in-patient who absconded from his ward describes the positives and negatives of life during the spring lockdown.

Life before lockdown on the rehabilitation unit was actually quite good. I was visiting and staying with my family on weekends and was attending college once week to study GCSE maths. I was engaging with activities on the unit such as a Halal cookery group where my friend and I would cook chicken or lamb curries once a week and I would join the weekly walking trips too.

"After experiencing the aggressive voices my distraction techniques stopped working and the threats felt real to me."

Also we would visit a local car-boot sale and a few of us would visit the cinema once a month. We watched Avengers 4 when it first came out as well as other movies.

We also had a badminton group which was good exercise and enjoyable too. I had weekly meetings with the ward psychologist who taught me mindfulness techniques and educated me about hearing voices. I learned how common mental health problems are and practiced distraction techniques.

My voices were quite benign at the time and would usually make comments about things that were going on around me. In the past they have been very aggressive and threatening, and usually ended with me relapsing.

My distraction techniques include listening to music or watching movies and sometimes having a short sleep also helps. I was coping well and had a decent standard of life. Then the Covid-19 pandemic started.

The first thing that stopped was the GCSE maths, I recall our teacher telling us that classes would be discontinued if a lockdown was instated. Two weeks later it was. I worked so hard for the maths course and was very disappointed that the class was stopped.

Following this, our leave to go home was cancelled. This was a blow for me as I looked forward every week to visiting and staying at my parent’s house.

I have a great and very close-knit family. I have five brothers and three sisters and have many nieces and nephews. My family have stood by me through difficult times, when I was detained in hospital for long periods of time they would visit me and support me emotionally and financially. They have always stood by me.

A positive start

When the lockdown started initially, I was very positive and enthusiastic and was encouraged to write an article by the ward psychologist. So I started writing again, my first article was published on the CEO’s blog and a lot of people benefitted from my positive outlook.

It was at this point I began to fulfil my dream of writing a book. My story is about a young orphan who is bullied relentlessly and exhibits magical power, he gradually becomes a powerful magician. I spent five or six hours daily writing my book. In the space of three weeks I completed the first draft. I am still working on my second draft now.

I also started writing articles for different magazines and newspapers and was published. It is quite satisfying to write articles which are then published. We had no leave at all for more than two months. The staff made life bearable by arranging activities for us and doing our essential shopping.

Threatening voices

The staff started a tuck shop and would take us out for a walk once a day. After some time passed like this my voices became threatening. They began to threaten my family and warned me that something bad would happen to them.

After experiencing the aggressive voices my distraction techniques stopped working and the threats felt real to me. I eventually ended up absconding from the unit. I walked a few miles and ended up getting a taxi to Oldham where my family live. I walked around Oldham for hours and hours and eventually ended up at my family home.

I maintained social distancing and didn’t go into my parent’s house. At the time it was the middle of the night. Eventually the police arrived and politely requested that I return to the rehab unit. I complied without a fuss but was very frustrated that I had to come back to the unit.

On returning,  I was placed in isolation for three days until the Covid-19 test results came through. Isolation is hard, being stuck in your bedroom with nothing but your laptop for company.

A week later I attempted to abscond again because of the same reasons so all my leave was stopped. For more than two months my leave has been restricted and I was only allowed escorted leave to the local shop.

It was in this period that I became involved with the ward’s weekly newsletter and began to write articles for it. My voices were erratic, sometimes benign sometimes loud and threatening. I also started my blog about mental health issues in the BAME community. The blog is relatively new and is growing slowly. I am very passionate about it and work hard to write two posts a week. There is so much work and effort behind writing a blog, including writing, designing and editing.

I have finally been granted leave to go to the shop on my own which it is quite uplifting and positive for me.  Today, after nearly three months I went to the nearby shop myself.  Oldham has had to go back into semi-Lockdown after the infection rate increased there so I worry about my family and friends.

I finally got my GCSE results and was happy to find out that I passed. I feel I would have done better if I had actually finished the course and sat the exams. But I am still happy with gaining a qualification.

I have learned patience and self control over the past few months. I have also grown to value the little things like being able to see family freely and to go out and enjoy yourself by playing a sport or visiting the cinema.

I appreciate having shelter and three meals a day and not living in a warzone and living in relative safety.  I appreciate having the freedom even to go to the local shop freely. I pray that the pandemic ends soon and we return to normality.

Culled from Mental Health Today

TIME TO CHANGE GLOBAL AND PARTNERS LAUNCHED MH ANTI-STIGMA KIT

On September 3rd, 2020, Gede Foundation, along with partners Time to Change Global (TTCG), Christian Blind Mission (CBM), Mental Health Society of Ghana (MEHSOG), BasicNeeds Basic Rights Kenya (BNBR), Mental Health Uganda (MHU) and GASS (India), launched an anti-stigma toolkit. 

The toolkit was designed to show what stigma looks like in the 5 countries where the project was being carried out (Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, India and Ghana). It is also a way to share some tools, materials, ideas and approaches that were used to tackle stigma and discrimination throughout the project. Among the ways were having one-on-one conversations. This is where someone with a lived experience of mental health problems would share the story with another individual who is presumed to not have that experience. During this conversation, the person with a lived experience would disclose their experience and share some of their stories. This was shown to reduce stigma and discrimination by changing people’s minds and attitudes. To do this, it was important to choose the right audiences as well as have the right messages.

Another way was through what is called, “social marketing”. Some of the work done can be viewed here. Champions shared their stories in 1-2 minutes and this was promoted in a campaign called, ‘it could be you, so be more kind’.  

With the toolkit, we hope that organisations, individuals  and the society at large can draw from the experiences and stories shared and press on to reducing stigma and discrimination towards mental health problems. 

Gede thanks its Board of Directors and its Founder, Barrister Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar for huge contributions and support that has helped in making all of this possible.

To stay updated, follow us on social media - on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and please return to the blog for updates! 

Below are some pictures of the brave champions who shared their stories!

Gede Conducts mhGAP Training to Healthcare Workers

A Training of Trainers Workshop was organised by Gede in Keffi, Nasarawa State from the 13th to 19th July, 2020. Eight Trainers and Supervisors(Psychiatrists and Clinical Psychologists) were certified, and will be engaged in the delivery of Community Mental Health and Development Programme through the North Central Transitional Aid in Nigeria Project. The Project will be implemented in Nasarawa and Plateau States in the next 3 years. This Training is to empower the Trainers and Supervisors to train 150 Community Health Extension Workers(CHEWs) in the 2 States and provide supportive supervision mental health services are implemented at the Primary Healthcare Centres. It is expected that over 15000 persons will be reached with mental health services across 8 local government areas in both States. Kindly visit the site for more updates.

This event was made possible through the huge contributions and support from Gede Foundation’s Board of Directors led by its Founder, Barrister Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar.

Below are some pictures from the event.

Gede Participates in #ShareInspireAct Learning Event

Gede Foundation was one of the five  organisations that participated  in the #ShareInspireAct learning event that took place in Nairobi, Kenya  between the 10th and 14th February 2019.

The event was organised by Time to Change Global (TTCG) and Christian Blind Mission (CBM UK).

Gede - Nigeria, BasicNeeds Basic Rights Kenya, GASS - India, Mental Health Society of Ghana and Mental Health Uganda are organisations in 5 countries that have been running anti stigma campaigns since 2019. These campaigns have been targeted at reducing/eliminating the stigma that is related to mental health problems. The learning event in was to create a platform where countries can share their experiences within the project and learn ways to improve in approaches to meet the overall programme objective. 

The 5-day event drew 75 participants including TTCG Staff, CBM Staff, Champions (people with lived experience), Project Coordinators, NGO partners, civil society groups, members of Kenyan Parliament, government officials, donor agencies and the media under one ‘roof’ to interact and  sufficiently explore ways to address stigma associated with mental health problems across regions.

Different sessions were held to better understand how to effectively target and reach many audiences. For two days, there were external sessions that featured key stakeholders in Kenya including psychiatrists, senators, and others with lived experience. The external team was treated to activities that the five countries have implemented in 2019—this included a mini social contact event - where people with lived experience of mental health problems have one-on-one conversation with people who have not had this experience.

Champions and Project Coordinators played key roles in delivering sessions at the event. They participated in panel discussions on ‘advocating for mental health’, ‘stigma and discrimination’ and ‘social contact’. The sessions provided more insights on ways to engage with the audience at social contacts and, specifically, how to deal with many challenges faced by people with mental health problems. A session on ‘social marketing’ showed the external and internal team the number of people reached in countries where social marketing has been concluded. 

Overall, the learning event was wonderfully curated and met all expected outcomes.

We look forward to implementing the lessons and take part in reducing stigma towards mental health problems! 

Please continue to visit the blog for more updates! Be sure to check us out on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. 

Gede thanks its Board of Directors and its Founder, Barrister Jennifer Douglas-Abubakar for huge contributions and support that has helped in making all of this possible.

International Christian group brings hope to IDPs in North Central

By Marie-Therese Nanlong

The Christian Blind Mission, CBM, a disability inclusive organization has launched the Transitional Aid project in Nigeria to improve the health situation in conflict affected communities in the North Central zone of the country with special focus on women and people living with disabilities. The project whose aim is to strengthen the resilience of conflict affected communities and internally displaced persons with attention towards disability inclusion in three North Central States of Plateau, Benue and Nassarawa would be achieved by establishing inclusive health, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, WASH services and income generating activities.

David Sabo of CBM, who gave the breakdown of the project during its launching in Jos said there are planned impacts which the project is expected to create among benefiting communities.

He disclosed that the project would be implemented through four partners, Center for Gospel Health and Development, CeGHaD, Evangelical Church Winning All, ECWA, Gede Foundation and the Universal Reformed Christian Church, NKST.

He said, “The objective of the project is to ensure that the target group have access to qualitative and inclusive health services, household in the communities have access to inclusive WASH services and particularly, vulnerable households in communities have increased their sources of income through the formation of saving groups

“ECWA will lead the implementation of the vesicovaginal fistula activities in the three States and provide its expertise on eye health in Plateau and Nasarawa States while NKST will provide its expertise and services on eye health in Benue. The provision of psychosocial services in Plateau and Nasarawa will be managed by Gede Foundation. “The organization will also be responsible for the WASH and livelihood components in Benue. CeGHaD will deal with WASH and livelihoods in Plateau and Nasarawa States.” He lamented the increase in number of internally displaced persons due to recurring violent conflicts in the region stressing such in having adverse effects on the precarious WASH facilities in communities. One of the implementing partners, Nancy Onu of CeGHaD expressed joy at the intervention saying it would go a long way in mitigating the challenges faced by displaced persons.

Culled from Vanguard

Mental Health Around The World

BY KATHRYN WHEELER

We speak to six people from across the globe about their personal experiences with mental health, the options that are available to them, and the goals they are working towards

No matter where we’re from or what we do, mental illness has the potential to touch us and our loved ones throughout our lives. According to the Global Burden of Disease, 13% of the global population lives with a mental disorder – that’s approximately 971 million people.

It’s something that unites us across borders, but no one person’s experience with mental health will be the same as another’s – and that’s especially true when we consider how the levels of support and stigma varies so drastically around the world.

It’s time to escape our respective bubbles and get a fresh perspective on the state of mental health care across the continents. Here, we speak to six people from around the world to find out about their personal experiences, and to learn more about what it really means to live with mental illness in 2020.

Anita in Nigeria

“My experience with mental health issues has been tough and sad – having family and friends not accept me for who I am during crisis, and an identity where I am seen as a ‘mad’ and ‘possessed’ human being,” Anita Ikwue explains.

For Anita, being open about her mental health came with challenges from those in her family and her wider community.

“Most of them are hearing something like this for the first time, and usually have a negative impression of mental health problems,” she says. “Some would be interested to know more about mental health. Others would say terrible things like ‘mad people’. For me, this means people are speaking from an ignorant angle, and they just need to be more educated.”

David in Sweden

David Brudö has experienced bouts of depression since his teens, but it wasn’t until later in life – when things became unbearable – that he decided to reach out for help. David notes how, in recent years, more people in Sweden have been willing to talk about mental health openly – yet he still feared colleagues and family would view him as “weak”.

“While people are more willing to speak about, for example, stress, anxiety, depression, and loneliness, mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are still not spoken about as openly,” David explains. “But it’s not unusual to see Nordic countries topping the World Happiness Report. And while Sweden has historically been concerned with one of the highest suicide rates since the 1960s, it now has one of the lowest suicide rates in the world.”

As way of explaining these stats, David points to the introduction of the Psychiatric Emergency Response Team – a dedicated mental health care ambulance that is being piloted in Stockholm – as well as Swedish values such as ‘fika’ which is a midday pause to socialise with friends and colleagues, and ‘friluftsliv’, the value of spending time outdoors.

Today, David is the CEO and co-founder of mental health and self-development app Remente, and he sees prevention rather than treatment as the key to better overall health.

“We will not be able to solve all mental health issues overnight, but it is important to make sure that all walks of life are provided with the right attention and support, to ensure that we continue to see the numbers of suicides decrease, and happiness rates increase.”

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GEDE AT LAFARGE AFRICA PLC AND MFAMOSING COMMUNITY DAY

LAFARGE AFRICA PLC through its Cooperate Social Responsibility initiative engaged Gede to coordinate its empowerment programme in Cross River State. This initiative is aimed at providing opportunities to the youths in rural communities to access education and life skills in order to lay foundations for productive lives. On 29th November, a Community Day at Mfamosing was organised (a community where LAFARGE Cement Plant is located), to provide a platform for i) partners to interact with beneficiaries and showcase their various achievements in the course of their engagements with LAFARGE, ii) communities to evaluate the impact of interventions, and, iii) government to present its commitment in promoting human capital development within the region.

The event was attended by the Wife of the Governor of Cross River State, the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, LAFARGE key Staff led by the Plant Manager, Royal Fathers from the host communities, Cross River State Police Commissioner, State Ministry of Education, State Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Development Partners, National Youth Service Corps, Community Groups and Beneficiaries.  

At the event, Gede highlighted its achievements for the past three years, coordinating LAFARGE’S community based project, which aims to promote sustainable development, through educational support and life skills empowerment to hundreds of young people in 10 rural communities in Cross River State. Students supported through the scholarship programme recorded impressive academic performances both at the Secondary School Council Examinations and Universities. The best students in both categories were awarded with laptops and other prizes.

Some schools where beneficiaries are enrolled showcased creativity challenge among the students in developing science projects on innovations and/or inventions that could contribute to addressing environmental pollution.

The event ended with commitments from all parties to sustain the development patterns that are seen as holistic in providing roadmap for sustainable developments in these communities. 

LAFARGE AFRICAN PLC offered goodwill messages to the Management and Staff of Gede Foundation for the smooth partnership engagement that has been witnessed among relevant stakeholders in the course of implementing the community projects.