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During COVID-19

Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations such as an infectious disease outbreak. When the COVID 19 epidemic broke in many regions of Somalia, many people started fearing for their life. People started isolating in their homes, which can affect on their mental health and well-being.

This is due to number of different reasons. One of the reasons was that most Somali people were not aware this new disease and how it spreads among people. Health workers in different parts of Somali regions were infected by COVID-19 specially those who interacted with COVID-19 patients. As someone who works in the field of mental health and psychological support, I have dealt with many patients who were highly impacted by the fear of COVID-19 virus.

Somali Health authorities have used many different  avenues to raise and spread the awareness associated with COVID-19 virus and its impact on human health. Some of the awareness information had negative impact and created fear among Somali society. One of the methods used to spread the awareness included using social media which have created a negative impact. Here I would like to share with you a case which i have dealt during this period.

60 years old women, living in the rural area of Somalia. She first heard the radio and auto-phone call ring tones about COVID-19 virus, and she kept worrying getting infected. She decided to self-isolate and decided not to interact with other people. This has affected her eating habits and developed bad insomnia and fear related with COVID-19 virus. This mental health issue related with fear of COVID-19 has worsened until she developed hallucination. She became suspicious of everyone and assumed that they are going to infect her with COVID-19 virus. She was admitted to our mental health hospital. We assessed here situation and we gave her appropriate treatment. After sometime she positively responded to the treatment. Her  mental health issues were caused by fear of COVID-19 due to negative impact caused by the awareness campaign.

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Continue reading »]]> Somalia has been struggling with civil war for the past 24 years with significant number of the population being impacted by the trauma of war and poverty. According to World Health Organizations, Somalia has higher prevalence of mental health disorders than in other low income and war-torn countries.

With this fact on the ground few people understand the magnitude of mental disorder in Somalia like Somali Mental Health Foundation does.

Somalia Mental Health Foundation is a US based nonprofit organization whose mission is to improve and protect the lives and dignity of people with mental health disorders and children with learning disabilities in Somalia.

SMHF Organize seminars and workshops on mental health issues for general medical practitioners, school teachers, Universities,  health workers, other community leaders, and opinion makers

18 march in 2016 Mr. Abdiqani Abdullahi Askar, Nurse Practitioner, visited Somaliland Borama the capital of Awdal region to mobilize mental health awareness among university students, because of the youth faced with difficult situations like unemployment after graduation and financial hardships including fees during university so some of the youth develop psychiatric problem specially depression

Mr. Abdiqani met with 150 universities student. He thought them about basic mental health and how they can adapt and manage difficult situation in their life during studies and after university some girls commit suicide due to difficulty in life. 

The success institute for human development is a Borama based and some of medical doctors graduated in Amoud University had done in this research

Most of girls who have committed self-inflicted burn suicide are aged between 16 and 20 years.

Collecting data of the last four years from 2009 to 2013 of girls who burnt themselves admitted to

Borama General hospital in Borama Somaliland showed this: we based this data only patients

admitted to Borama General Hospital not to other private hospitals

                                                           of Cases                    Died                        Survive

The topics included

• Basic introduction of mental health
• symptoms of  mental health
• Counseling about mental heath
• Risk factors of suicide and management
• Motivation in student
• Sing and symptoms of depression and management
• How to reduce the stress 

Continue reading »]]> Fadumo is 28 years old patient. She lives in a small village located about 30km west of Qardho called YAKA. She was born blind. Three of her brothers suffer from blindness at the same time.  Unfortunately, the family is poor and can’t afford any treatment for her and her siblings. They are concerned about her future too.

Initially she presented with auditory hallucinations, disorganized speech, inappropriate affect with an occasionally euphoric mood, and grossly disorganized behavior and suspicious. Her sister brought her to SMHF Qardho Mental Health Center. We admitted to our inpatient department for acute psychotic, and Mr. Abdiqani  Askar, Nurse Practitioner,  prescribed antipsychotic Haloperidol injection. After 3 day she felt calm and he switched the treatment to Olanzapine tablet which she has been taking in the last 2 month with Allah’s help the medication has worked for her and she regained her health 

She knows everything about her life specially recognize in different voices, reads the Holy Quran and chatting with other peoples. We discharged to her and give her flow up 

 Also 2 years Ago, Mr. Abdiqani diagnosed and treated one of her brothers with acute psychoses. 

Continue reading »]]> The Foundation’s representative and managing Nurse Practitioner, Mr. Abdiqani Abdullahi Askar  visited Dangorayo District, Nugal Region of Somalia.  The aim of his visit was to treat mentally ill patients and also provide training of school teachers.

The key focus was to educate teachers about mental health symptoms specially with children. It’s a more common the majority of Somalia when a child students have low grade marks or behavioral problems the teachers and parents don’t know how to seek help or understanding what are the issues with their children. Most of the time they resort to traditional methods including punishment which causes the students to drop out of school or have more behavioral issues.

The number of the patients were  more than hundred with many different mental and other  illnesses and the teachers were around fifteen.

The trip was very successful, SMHF will continue the treatment and training and follow up in the near future in Dangorayo District , Nugal Somalia.

Continue reading »]]> Somali Mental Health Foundation was recently invited to participate in a two day series of events, Out of the Shadows: Making Global Mental Health a Development Priority. This high level event was hosted by the World Bank and the World Health Organization during the World Bank-Interagency Monetary Spring Meeting on April 13-14, 2016 in Washington D.C. The event highlighted the “urgent investment needed in mental health services” and showcased many “effective, generalizable, replicable and sustainable innovation” from many different countries.

We are committed to scaling up mental health services and accessibilities in Somalia.   So, while in Washington D.C., Dr. Mohamud and Mr. Abdullahi, Foundation Board members, made the time to meet with Mr. Thabit Mohamed, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Somali Embassy.  The meeting was positive and the discussion focused on the collaboration of the Somali Mental Health Foundation (SMHF) and the Health Ministry in Somalia. The SMHF objectives are to:

• Promote awareness and an understanding of mental health service needs in Somalia.
• Support the development of adequate facilities with highly qualified mental health professionals for the treatment of mental, neurological and psychosocial disorders.
• Serve  as an advisory board for the Somalia government and other international organizations in the field of mental health in Somalia

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The Foundation’s representative and managing Nurse Practitioner, Mr. Abdiqani Abdullahi Askar  visited Nugal, and the Mudug regions of Somalia. The visit included Burtinle village, Goldogo village, and Galkayo city. The aim of his visit was to treat mentally ill patients and also provide training to the medical staff of mental hospitals and clinics.

Burtinle village of Nugal region

Mr. Abdiqani started his visit in the village of Burtinle, located in the Nugal region. He met with the MOH coordinator of Burtinle and head of World Vision International. They discussed how to improve the mental health center in Burtinle. He also consulted and suggested that the World Vision International should provide medications for the mentally ill patients that are lacking support and treatments. He treated around 50 mentally ill patients in Burtinle. He also delivered an introduction mental health training course to the medical teams in Burtinle.

Goldogob village of Nugal region

In the village of Goldogob, Mr. Abdiqani stayed for 4 days and delivered hands-on training sessions for medical staff, as well as treating 40 mentally ill patients.

Galkayo City, Mudug Region

Mr. Abdiqani also visited the Galkayo Mental Health Center where he checked patients in, and managed their proper medication doses. He also adjusted their doses  of medication , and trained staff members of the Galkayo Mental Health Center on how to administer the correct doses to the mental health patients, and how they can increase or decrease the medications.

The trip was very successful and many people benefitted from the work that was done.