Spreading HAPPINESS in Nigeria: Yale, partners expand mental health program

During Yale President Peter Salovey’s visit to Lagos, he met with officials to finalize plans to expand the HAPPINESS Project (Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria including Epilepsy and Substances), an ongoing Yale partnership with the government of Imo State, Nigeria. A document signing event took place on January 17th, pictured above. From left to right:  Dr .Chinyere Aguocha (HAPPINESS Healthcare Foundation), President Salovey, Professor Nkwam Uwaoma (Imo State University) and Mr. Bright Ekweremadu (CBM International).        Read more about the project below.

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Spreading HAPPINESS in Nigeria: Yale, partners expand mental health program

In remote Imo State, one of 36 states in the African country of Nigeria, it is virtually impossible to get a mental health care referral.

“There is so much need,” said Theddeus Iheanacho, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine.

Iheanacho and his HAPPINESS Project colleague Charles Dike, M.D., also an associate professor of psychiatry at the medical school, both hail from Imo State. The two understand how badly underserved the population is, especially in the rural areas. There are no psychiatric hospitals across the 2,135-square-mile territory, and the state counts only one full-time psychiatrist to serve its nearly 5 million residents.

HAPPINESS Project participants at a training that took place in Nigeria in September 2019

—> Continue reading this article at the YaleNews website:
https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/17/spreading-happiness-nigeria-yale-partne…