Bringing Global Mental Illness Out of the Shadows

Abstract:
It’s usually diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria or Ebola that get most of the global health headlines. However, mental illness is actually the leading cause of disability worldwide, but it gets little attention. In many parts of the world, mental health professionals are scarce, there is rarely access to common medications and stigma is rampant. The result is millions of people with mental illnesses living without treatment or dignity, a situation the World Health Organization calls a “hidden crisis.”
The Global Reporting Centre sent teams to Togo, Benin, Jordan, and India to look at how some countries are addressing this major health challenge, and coming up with creative solutions to bring mental illness out of the shadows.
Speaker: Peter Klein is an Emmy Award-winning journalist, Associate Professor at the UBC School of Journalism, and Director of the Global Reporting Centre at UBC, a new non-profit organization dedicated to researching and producing global journalism. As a Wall Scholar, Professor Klein will be researching best practices for improving global reporting methodologies, and will be working on creating a collaborative environment for teaching global reporting across universities around the world.University Centre, Seminar Room (307), 6331 Crescent Road, Vancouver