Background: Somalia has over 2.6 million internally displaced people (IDP) that depend on daily wages and humanitarian assistance for their livelihoods. This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on livelihoods, food security and mental health of Somalia's IDPs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAmoud University in Borama is located in the self-declared state of Somaliland, in the Horn of Africa. Past conflicts and resulting economic hardship have led to a lack of local academic psychiatry faculty and resources. Amoud has been for some years partnering with voluntary faculty in the United Kingdom to teach psychiatry to its medical students through in-person "teaching missions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Varying public views on cannabis use across countries may explain the variation in the prevalence of use, policies, and research in individual countries, and global regulation of cannabis. This paper aims to describe the current state of cannabis use, policies, and research across sixteen countries.
Methods: PubMed and Google Scholar were searched for studies published from 2010 to 2020.
Every health care system requires an adequate health care workforce, service delivery, financial support, and information technology. During the COVID-19 pandemic, global health systems were ill prepared to address the rising prevalence of mental health problems, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), thereby increasing treatment gaps. To close these gaps globally, task shifting and telepsychiatry should be made available and maximized, particularly in LMICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reflective practice is a key skill for healthcare professionals. E-learning programmes have the potential to develop reflective practice in remote settings and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where access to in-person reflective groups may be reduced. 'Aqoon' is a global mental health peer-to-peer e-learning programme between Somaliland and UK medical students.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWorldwide recognition of gender inequality and discrimination following the #MeToo movement has been slow to reach the field of global health. Although international institutions have begun to address gender, the perspectives of front-line global health workers remain largely undocumented, especially in regions not captured by large-scale surveys. Long-term collaborative relationships between clinicians and educators participating in paired institutional partnerships can foster cross-cultural dialogue about potentially sensitive subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrison in-reach mental health services are reasonably well developed in advanced economies, but virtually nonexistent in low- and middle-income countries. We describe the development of a small prison in-reach project in Somaliland, a self-declared independent state which has experienced conflict and poverty in equal measure. After careful planning and cooperation with local agencies, the service provides sessional input to a regional prison, including assessment and treatment of a wide range of psychiatric conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF