Overall targets
Primary and overall objectives: • Improved access to health services for a very vulnerable group, the mentally ill, in Zambian prisons – and hereby enhancing inmates’ basic human rights and human dignity • Improved inmate mental health
Immediate targets
o A more inclusive, knowledgeable, skilled and caring attitude to mental health patients by health staff inside prison walls (reduced stigma and discrimination, and improved knowledge) o Improved treatment and care of mental health patients inside prison walls, including linkages to outside professionals (hospitals etc.) o A reduction in prison pain and deaths related to depression (developing baselines and this point, which will later be used to evaluate) o Both somatic and mental health patients receiving psycho-social support services by inmate volunteers
Target groups
Health staff Volunteer inmates Mental health patients
Resume
Mental health is a major issue in prisons worldwide. In Zambia estimations on depression and anxiety show alarming rates of 30-60% depending on the facility in question. There are no reliable estimations on other mental illness, but it is a fact worldwide that psychiatric patients are vastly overrepresented in prisons, and our in-depth experience from prisons tells us it is a major issue with many mental health patients left untreated or poorly treated. Ubumi has thus far worked primarily with somatic health, but the link between mental and somatic health cannot be ignored in a prison setting. Mental health is therefore new focus for Ubumi, which will enhance our effectiveness further. Primary and overall objectives: • Improved access to health services for a very vulnerable group, the mentally ill, in Zambian prisons – and hereby enhancing inmates’ basic human rights and human dignity • Improved inmate mental health, as measured by o A more inclusive, knowledgeable, skilled and caring attitude to mental health patients by health staff inside prison walls (reduced stigma and discrimination, and improved knowledge) o Improved treatment and care of mental health patients inside prison walls, including linkages to outside professionals (hospitals etc.) o A reduction in prison pain and deaths related to depression (developing baselines and this point, which will later be used to evaluate) o Both somatic and mental health patients receiving psycho-social support services by inmate volunteers o Support groups for HIV patients and other patient groups The planned activities will take place in mainly 8 different correctional centres: Lusaka Central (1 - male and 2 - female), Kamwala (3 - male only, there is no female), Chainama East (4 - male and female together in one facility), Chipata (5 - male and female) and Kabwe (6 - male maximum security (including condemned section), 7 - male medium security and 8 - female). These facilities hold an average of 4400 inmates, including about 100 juveniles and 7-25 children on a daily basis.