Project Lead(s): Hassani Msoma Mistoihi, Mohamed Chamssoudine
About 45% of 800,000 citizens of the Union of Comoros live below the poverty line. The UN’s Human Development Index ranks the country 163rd of 187. On the country’s main island, Grande Comore, the Bambao Itsandra district (population 60,000) has an estimated 600 people with epilepsy and 600 with schizophrenia. This new project will offer mental health training to community health workers and will connect patients for psychiatric consultation via mobile phone (there is just one psychiatrist working in the country). Computer tablets will also be used for weekly reporting and mobile apps deployed to help inform the local public about mental health issues. Project aim: on the main island of the Union of Comoros, to reduce by 30% in 18 months the number of schizophrenia and epilepsy patients who receive no treatment at all.