Improving mental health care in Nepal

Photo credit: https://unityinhealthnepal.org/

Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common in all regions of the world, affecting every community and age group across all income countries. While 14% of the global burden of disease is attributed to these disorders, most of the people affected - 75% in many low-income countries - do not have access to the treatment they need.

IUBAT graduate Sailesh Bhandari works as a Clinical Nurse Educator and Team Leader in a project to improve community mental health care in rural Nepal that is being delivered by the NGO Unity in Health Nepal. Sailesh's main tasks have been capacity building as well as educating local people about good mental health, and raising awareness on this critical but neglected issue. His team has trained Health Assistants, Female Community Health Volunteers and others in basic mental health care skills, so that patients and families have a local mental health support network when specialist care services are not available.

To ensure consistency with other training programs in South Asia, they use resources such as the Mental Health Gap Training Program developed by WHO. The mhGap program aims at scaling up services for mental, neurological and substance use disorders especially for low- and middle-income countries .

One Student One Tree at Bluebell

Recently, Prof Golam Mostofa an educator and also former Member of Parliament joined Rabiul Islam to participate in the One Student One Tree program at Bluebell School. The program is designed to engage children in responding to climate change. Before planting the trees, the guests of honour reviewed the students’ art and awarded small prizes.

Community Health Workers make a big impact

Canadian journalist Stephanie Nolen recently wrote about Community Health Workers for the New York Times. She describes the role of the CHW in various countries by profiling the daily activities of several women. Nolen also explains how the significant public health impact of CHWs is not matched by their pay. She quotes the head of an advocacy organization, “Community health workers in countries like Rwanda and Liberia are treating half of malaria cases, they’re doing huge feats of curative care, of promotive care, of preventive care — and yet the vast majority are not paid or supported.”

OFP currently operates a health screening clinic to serve the Balagram community. Many people, particularly elders with chronic illness such as diabetes of heart disease, benefit from this accessible service close to home. We would like to expand this health program by training more front-line health workers at OIST. As with the current training programs in civil engineering and computer technology, Government of Bangladesh has developed an authorized training program for paramedics. While this is our next priority, we presently lack the funding to start any new program and would welcome donor support to begin the approval and planning process for this health care training initiative.