Dr. Nakimuli-Mpungu wants to improve mental health in her community in Uganda. She has the training and community support to make these improvements.
As a fellow student of Ethel at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, I can attest to her dedication to her goal of making mental health a priority in Uganda. Not only does Ethel have to contend with the lack of education about what mental health IS but she is working in an environment where mental health is challenged every day by the devastating effects of infectious diseases like HIV in addition to the daily challenges of life. Add to the situation the high cost of treating HIV. Then consider the limited time that doctors have with patients to address the symptom leading to the visit plus asking them to make the time to address a patient's mental health needs and pay for mental health therapy. Ethel aims to change a community in crisis.
Despite these challenges, Ethel will achieve her goal. As part of her PhD dissertation at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with the support of the Fulbright Foundation, she is currently working on establishing the burden of mental health among the community hospital in which she practices in addition to practicing as a psychiatrist and establishing practices to implement changes to identify patients in need of mental health counseling. She has the support of local community leaders and interest of the community at large in achieving her goal. She has worked diligently to establish a foundation that will continue to support and change the lives of her community.
I believe in Ethel and her ability to change the meaning of mental health in Uganda. This award will help her make this goal a reality.
Susie, thank you for your comment. Indeed we are a community in great need of education about mental health problems. Can you imagine,today I went to do a ward round on the female acute admission. I was asked to review a 28 year old lady, a university master's student who was admitted with a manic episode. The problem was that her husband and relatives wanted to take her away from the hospital for traditional healing. Although the husband had brought her to the hospital,the relatives of the wife pressured him to take their daughter out of hospital. How dare he bring their daughter to a psychiatric hospital? I pleaded with the relatives to give me just two days to calm their patient,then we would continue to treat her as an outpatient. The husband appeared to be convinced but shortly thereafter 4 elderly women,relatives to the patient came and demanded for their daughter.They said they must take her for traditional healing,she is not mentally sick but has ancestral spirits disturbing her. They willingly wrote a statement that they are taking their daughter out of hospital against doctors advice and they all signed. I felt terrible,inadequate, useless...... I felt I had failed in someway...... We need to educate our community about mental illness. Its urgent!
In Uganda, there are so many programs promoting knowledge of various diseases like malaria HIV/AIDS, Puemonia Sickle cell disease …etc. But we almost never hear about Mental health problems or disorders. Dr. Ethel is very brave to go out there and start a program that educates about mental health problems. Our communities need this conversation about mental health. Doc, congratulations on your innovative idea. Good luck.
Gonza! We at HONEST CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH want to thank you and everybody you took the time to nominate, comment, and read about the work that we are doing.
We would like to thank family and friends whose generous gifts have made it possible for us to construct our website. You can read more,view pictures and videos of our activities from our website www.hcamh.org.
Comments
Dr. Nakimuli-Mpungu wants to improve mental health in her community in Uganda. She has the training and community support to make these improvements.
As a fellow student of Ethel at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, I can attest to her dedication to her goal of making mental health a priority in Uganda. Not only does Ethel have to contend with the lack of education about what mental health IS but she is working in an environment where mental health is challenged every day by the devastating effects of infectious diseases like HIV in addition to the daily challenges of life. Add to the situation the high cost of treating HIV. Then consider the limited time that doctors have with patients to address the symptom leading to the visit plus asking them to make the time to address a patient's mental health needs and pay for mental health therapy. Ethel aims to change a community in crisis.
Despite these challenges, Ethel will achieve her goal. As part of her PhD dissertation at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health with the support of the Fulbright Foundation, she is currently working on establishing the burden of mental health among the community hospital in which she practices in addition to practicing as a psychiatrist and establishing practices to implement changes to identify patients in need of mental health counseling. She has the support of local community leaders and interest of the community at large in achieving her goal. She has worked diligently to establish a foundation that will continue to support and change the lives of her community.
I believe in Ethel and her ability to change the meaning of mental health in Uganda. This award will help her make this goal a reality.
Susie, thank you for your comment. Indeed we are a community in great need of education about mental health problems. Can you imagine,today I went to do a ward round on the female acute admission. I was asked to review a 28 year old lady, a university master's student who was admitted with a manic episode. The problem was that her husband and relatives wanted to take her away from the hospital for traditional healing. Although the husband had brought her to the hospital,the relatives of the wife pressured him to take their daughter out of hospital. How dare he bring their daughter to a psychiatric hospital? I pleaded with the relatives to give me just two days to calm their patient,then we would continue to treat her as an outpatient. The husband appeared to be convinced but shortly thereafter 4 elderly women,relatives to the patient came and demanded for their daughter.They said they must take her for traditional healing,she is not mentally sick but has ancestral spirits disturbing her. They willingly wrote a statement that they are taking their daughter out of hospital against doctors advice and they all signed. I felt terrible,inadequate, useless...... I felt I had failed in someway...... We need to educate our community about mental illness. Its urgent!
In Uganda, there are so many programs promoting knowledge of various diseases like malaria HIV/AIDS, Puemonia Sickle cell disease …etc. But we almost never hear about Mental health problems or disorders. Dr. Ethel is very brave to go out there and start a program that educates about mental health problems. Our communities need this conversation about mental health. Doc, congratulations on your innovative idea. Good luck.
Gonza! We at HONEST CONVERSATION ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH want to thank you and everybody you took the time to nominate, comment, and read about the work that we are doing.
We would like to thank family and friends whose generous gifts have made it possible for us to construct our website. You can read more,view pictures and videos of our activities from our website www.hcamh.org.