We end the year 2023 in the afterglow of our inaugural conference entitled, “Healing the Brain: Bridging the Gap in Low-and Middle-Income Countries." This conference brought together University leadership and academics, government representatives, international organizations such as the AKDN, WHO, UN, and UNICEF, and global mental health champions, such as Dr. Vikram Patel from Harvard. The highlights and outcomes of this conference are covered in this newsletter, below.
In our Education
"The inspiration behind the creation of BMI was to bring practical and culturally appropriate research to address the rising brain and mental health needs in the geographies served by AKU and AKDN. "
Prof Zul Merali, Founding Director, Brain and Mind Institute
Domain, our team led by Dr. Kendi Muchungi and Tayyeb Tahir offered a highly popular course entitled Mental Health Ambassadorship, which teaches one how to recognize signs of common mental illnesses and to respond empathetically. This course also helps one to recognize the biological, psychological, and social determinants of mental ill health and helps destigmatize mental illness. In short, we hope this course will generate mental health ambassadors who will open up difficult conversations and promote help-seeking for mental ill health more widely. In addition, BMI launched its first Mental Health Resilience Bootcamp – which was very well received by course participants. This course gives one a 'toolbox' to deal with everyday stressors at work and home and is designed to mitigate the progression of mental illness. This Bootcamp will be offered more widely in 2024. Details are covered below.
Under the Research and Transformation Domains, the BMI has launched multiple studies on dementias and Alzheimer's Disease. The power team including Olivera Nesic, Karen Blackmon, Edna Bosire, and Chi Udeh-Momoh, have landed several external grants from Welcome Trust, Davos Collaborative, and other funders. Part of this research will focus on healthy aging and on developing assessment and diagnostic tools that are more culturally appropriate. In addition, a partnership has been struck with Dr Mansoor Saleh at Cancer Center, to carry out studies on how cancer and mental and brain ill health interact to influence health outcomes.
BMI's hub in Pakistan is growing rapidly and includes incredibly talented individuals such as Dr Rozina Karmaliani (Associate Director, South and Central Asia), Dr. Fauziah Rabbani (Chief Scientist, Implementation Research & Innovation), Falak Madhani (Chief, Health Services
Research Liaison) and Dr Murad Khan (Head, Depression and Suicide Prevention Research Centre). In keeping with the 'Big Tent' ethos of the BMI, we will be collaborating with various Departments of the College of Medicine (e.g. Community Health Sciences, Psychiatry, Family Medicine) and the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SONAM).
Looking ahead into 2024, our entire implementation science team is looking forward to the launch of our Living Lab framework (real-world ecosystem) in Kenya and Pakistan. This multidisciplinary approach will work closely with selected communities to create longitudinal cohorts to study issues about Brain and Mental Health. What is unique is that this will be done in conjunction with the assessment of key physical health conditions, and social and environmental determinants (like climate change and economic conditions) and will be done across the lifespan (from mothers and babies to the elderly). This, we believe, will be the first study of its kind, globally.
The inspiration behind the creation of BMI was to bring practical and culturally appropriate research to address the rising brain and mental health needs in the geographies served by AKU and AKDN. Although we have celebrated many major milestones towards addressing those objectives, a lot more needs to be done. The needs are enormous – but the innovative solutions are exciting and bring much hope to those suffering in silence. This is due to the hard work and dedication of the entire BMI team – thank you, one and all!
