IN THE SHADOWS: A Report on Global Mental Health

Donate to the campaign: http://crowdfundraising.ubc.ca/projects/shadows-report-global-mental-health/ The Global Reporting Centre’s award-winning International Reporting Program will send their team of 10 second-year Master of Journalism students into the field to investigate what clinicians and advocates are doing to try to address the overwhelming problem of depression in the developing world. They will look at access to care and medication, traditional and innovative treatments, economic burden and how both local and foreign doctors are dealing with this hidden and prevalent global health issue. The IRP fellows will produce a multimedia project using long-form video, text, photography and audio. The stories will be distributed on multiple platforms and through partnerships with major news organizations. Diseases like ebola, malaria and TB receive most of the global health headlines, but mental illnesses, like depression, are actually the leading cause of disability worldwide. But the problem, and stories about programs that could help millions, remain under reported. Chris Turner, founder of BasicNeeds, started his UK-based NGO in 2000 when he witnessed people with mental illnesses caged and tortured in a hospital compound in Africa. According to BasicNeed’s mandate, the NGO provides community-based support systems. Their treatment model promotes long-term recovery by considering the impact of various cultural and socio-economic factors. But most of us have never heard of organisations like BasicNeeds. And we rarely ever hear the stories of people who are struggling with mental illness in the developing world – why? While mental health reporting has improved over the last decade there is still too much bad reporting. Forty per cent of stories related to mental health focus on crime and violence and almost all of the stories have neglected to include the voices of those living with a mental illness. Liam Casey, a Toronto Star journalist, who has focused his career on mental health reporting, said it best, “We’re not going to solve any problems by not talking about them.” He’s right. The numbers are staggering. According to a recent study by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, mental illness is more prevalent than cancer and heart disease. And three quarters of the people afflicted with mental disorders are in the developing world. The prevalence of depression is exacerbated in low-income countries due to poverty, stigma, war-related trauma, poor resources and chronic diseases like HIV. Many of those with depression will never receive treatment. In fact, twenty per cent of countries don’t even have common antidepressants. Support our project to help bring this hidden crisis out of the shadows. The Need Funding for global journalism has been declining for years. Major international news bureaus have been closed and international reporting budgets are no longer adequate to ensure quality reporting. Global issues – like the stories we will tell in “In The Shadows” – are not investigated and reported thoroughly, resulting in a less-informed public. So to produce this year-long project we’ve had to get creative. The “In The Shadows” project is almost fully funded – the International Reporting Program has already secured funding from the Mindset Social Innovation Foundation, but we need your help to cover the costs involved with producing a long-form multimedia project. Your support will help us: – Send physicians into the field with our team. – Pay stipends for journalists or journalism students in focus countries who will collaborate with the UBC team. – Cover travel expenses for UBC students including airfare and visas. You are an important part in telling this story. Thank you for your support. http://crowdfundraising.ubc.ca/projects/shadows-report-global-mental-health/