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According to the 2019 report from Uganda Counselling Association and the Ministry of Health, 14 million Ugandans suffer from a form of mental disorder and this number is believed to have doubled by 2022. Mental disorders identified range from depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia to dementia and other developmental disorders.
OBJECTIVES: With funding from StrongMinds Uganda, InPact launched the Mental health Support Program , in FY 22. This program is part of the global goal of treating 2 million people suffering form depression.
ACTIVITIES
The project is implemented in 4 sub counties of Kirima, Kanungu Town Council , Kihanda and Kihihi Town council in Kanungu district. InPact targets to reach 1000 clients with the community led group therapy using the Interpersonal group therapy-IPT-G.
The InPact team conducts oreintation for district and community leaders, technical staff of various sectors,including education, health, agriculture , tourism, local government Media and police on what MHSP seeks to achieve and the different roles multi-sectoral partners are to play through, media engagement and radio talk shows.
InPact's approach is to integrate this therapy in other projects that are on going in order to reach more vulnerable men and women that benefit from this therapy, and to leverage resources for better health outcomes. Through this therapy-led approach, women and girls working in agricultural farms,female sex workers, and those in abusive family and workplaces were reached.
IMPACT
In Kanungu district leadership, partner health facilities, community members including KPs and PPs, local leaders (especially KP and PP leaders, and religious leaders) embraced the programme, and supported its roll-out and implementation in the focus communities including donating the district allocated radio talk show airtime to InPact and SMU to raise awareness on mental health and refer clients to available IPT-G groups. The office of the Resident District Commissioner for example donated 3 one hour long radio talk show slots of his allocated time to InPact specifically to talk about the challenges of living with depression and the benefits of the IPT-G therapy groups. These well structured approaches led to tremendous first time results indicated on the next page.
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