Dear Didier,
Thank you for your description a few days ago about your new work with the psychiatric services of the Hôpital Jamot in Yaounde and its evocatively named "love village". [ https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/barriers-and-facilitators-implementatio... ] 'The love village is solely dedicated to these persons. There they have all of their basic needs met and as well their mental health care taken care of. There are as from today, 109 persons with a mental illness which where taken from the streets wandering in the love village. The multidisciplinary team consists of : clinical psychologists, mental health nurses, nurses, cleaners, watch men, and the only psychiatrist who is the general coordinator of the village.'
This sounds like an innovation and it would be good to hear more about how it works. What is done differently in this setting as compared with other settings (or as compared with how Hôpital Jamot functioned previously)? Have these changes been demonstrated to show increased (cost) effectiveness?
Looking forward to learn more. Meanwhile, I invite HIFA members working in mental health to share their experience in other countries.
Best wishes, Neil
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org www.hifa.org
