Archive for category: Mental Health

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Protecting Women’s Mental Health in Iran Amid Regional Conflict

Women’s Mental Health in IranFeb. 28, 2026, the United States and Israel have been at war with Iran after launching airstrikes across the nation, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and destabilizing the Iranian regime. This has incited an international conflict characterized by regional spillovers, an impasse over shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz and a humanitarian crisis. Bombings have internally displaced an estimated 3.2 million Iranians and killed more than 3,375 people, according to Iran’s Ministry of Health, including targeted strikes on public spaces. The bombings have also severely limited access to essential trauma care, medication and clean water.

The War’s Unequal Toll on Women

The current war in Iran is causing immense harm to middle- and low-income populations in the region, augmenting levels of poverty worldwide. An analysis from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) from June 2026 suggested that due to the Iran war, “20.9 million more people may be living in poverty” across the 20 countries they analyzed.

The impact the 2026 war has had on women is of particular concern for both physical and psychological reasons. Pregnant women in the affected region face extreme health complications due to toxic environmental pollution from bombed oil fields and fractured prenatal care systems. According to Ambassador Melanne Verveer, executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security, the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son, is “raising concerns that his leadership will entrench hardline views within the government, including in relation to women’s status.” Verveer noted that Mojtaba Khamenei was a prominent target of criticism during the Woman, Life, Freedom protests from September 2022. Additionally, women displaced as a result of the war face elevated risks of exploitation and gender-based violence, exacerbating the struggle to safely access physical aid drops.

The Psychological Casualties of Conflict

The recent conflict’s effects on women’s mental health in Iran have not appeared in the news as frequently or emphatically as the more visible physical traumas, but the issue is growing increasingly pervasive and grave. Airstrikes, infrastructure destruction and explosions have led to widespread post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), disordered sleep and eating, chronic hypervigilance and acute anxiety among civilian women.

Economic Insecurity and Women’s Mental Health in Iran

Women’s mental suffering is not only tied to direct violence they are witnessing or facing but is also a result of the systemic challenges that the conflict has intensified. Iranian labor data show that women’s participation in the workforce has declined from approximately 16% in 2024 to 2025 to 11% thus far in 2026, and as CNN reports, “Women have made a third of all unemployment insurance claims since the war started.” Although women outnumber men in Iranian universities, this does not translate into equal career or hiring opportunity. Laws heavily favor male employment, and job advertisements frequently feature explicit gender specifications favoring male applicants. This reality is crushing for the many Iranian women who dreamed of applying their studies and being financially independent. Moreover, the escalating need for Iranian women’s financial dependence on men also contributes to increased vulnerability to emotional and physical domestic violence.

Psychological-Care

Fortunately, some humanitarian organizations are rallying efforts in support and relief for the crisis of women’s well-being in Iran. Notably, Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders, an international humanitarian organization founded in 1971, is operating projects in South Tehran, Mashhad and Kerman, endeavoring to provide not just emergency medical and trauma care, but also offering services in mental health counseling, psychiatric care, as well as sexual and reproductive health.

Similarly, the United Nations Population Fund, established in 1969, is working with Iran’s government and local partners to provide mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) primarily through community-based multi-purpose service centers aimed at marginalized groups like woman-headed households and refugees.

Expanding the Humanitarian Response

While these initiatives offer valuable and essential support, the scale of the mental and structural crisis amplified for women in Iran by the 2026 war calls for a broader response. The current experiences of Iranian women cannot be measured solely through casualties and injuries as the additional hardships of lost employment, financial dependence, displacement, gender-based violence and psychological trauma can continue to distress women’s lives long after immediate emergencies pass. Greater investment in accessible care for women’s mental health in Iran alongside economic protections will help to lessen this gap, and ensure that recovery in Iran accounts for the consequences of war that are less perceivable in the immediate sense, but no less consequential.

– Nilani Mathur

Nilani is based in Longmeadow, MA, USA and focuses on Global Health and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Lack of Healthcare in Madagascar Leads to Mass Exorcisms

Healthcare in MadagascarIn Madagascar, exorcisms are not just a plot of horror movies or scary stories. Across the country, numerous healing and revival camps perform daily exorcisms as the primary way to treat mental illness. While this practice is rooted in traditional ancestral customs, the prevalence of these exorcism camps intersects directly with the lack of healthcare in Madagascar, becoming a dangerous consequence of the country’s extreme poverty.

Poverty in Madagascar

Madagascar—a beautiful island known for its biodiversity, unique wildlife and the 2005 hit movie where New York animals escape their caged zoo life—has one of the highest global rates of poverty. Around 80% of the country’s population lives on less than 9,255 Malagasy ariary per day, which roughly converts to $2.15. One of the most prominent ways Madagascar’s poverty manifests is its extreme lack of access to healthcare. Most citizens must pay out-of-pocket for basic medical services that are unaffordable for the average household. In addition to roughly half of the country’s population living far from medical facilities, 75% of those health centers lack basic electricity and running water.

Underfunding, poor infrastructure, and a lack of utilities at most healthcare facilities in Madagascar have led citizens to seek alternatives. The most popular substitute is placing mentally ill individuals in exorcism camps.

History of Exorcisms in Madagascar

Madagascar has a deep ancestral tradition of holistic healing and spiritual well-being. Amid a period of severe socio-economic hardship in the country, a man named Rainisoalambo heard a calling from Jesus Christ to convert to Protestantism and add a ministry of exorcism to the Malagasy Lutheran Church. This divine experience galvanized him to start the fifohazana revival movement in 1894: a crusade that successfully translated modern European Christianity into a deeply local, culturally resonant experience. As the indigenous Christian movement grew, the traditional holistic healing of sick community members morphed into a violent expulsion of demons from those believed to be possessed.

Exorcisms and Poverty

Possession has less to do with a spiritual state and more to do with the absence of healthcare in Madagascar.

While traveling in Madagascar from 2006 to 2016, Riccardo Bononi, a visual anthropologist from Italy, visited one of the country’s most popular toby—the revival camps where exorcisms are performed. After observing many of these purification ceremonies, Bononi came to a troubling conclusion: most of the condemned people were not possessed, but actually ill. As a guest speaker for Boston University’s Conflict & Crisis Reporting, Bononi told a story of meeting a woman who was sent to the toby for showing indifference and disdain toward her newborn. While Madagascan culture labeled her as possessed by demons for such behavior, Bononi saw that she was instead suffering from postpartum depression.

Because only 1% of Madagascar’s national health budget is allocated for mental healthcare, Bononi’s story of mental illness being relabeled as possession is quite common. Olivia Legrip-Randriambelo, an anthropologist studying the religious healing practices of Madagascar, found that the prevalence of toby compensates for the scarcity and high cost of healthcare in Madagascar. Because chronic poverty, malnutrition and misfortune are frequently associated with spiritual disruption, and families usually bring patients to revival camps when they can no longer care for them for economic reasons, the country’s poverty seems to lead all roads to exorcism.

Harmfulness of Exorcisms

Even though exorcisms are important to Madagascar’s indigenous culture, the country’s economic dependency on them for solutions to mental and physical illness makes them extremely dangerous. In addition to Madagascar’s lack of healthcare, which causes families to bring patients with neurological disorders and mental health conditions to religious camps instead of hospitals, the conditions of these are extremely damaging. Bononi recalled that not only were the intensive exorcisms violent and traumatizing for such vulnerable individuals, but camp workers also chained together the wrists and ankles of most possessed Madagascans in a way that resembled the shackles used on enslaved people in America. Bononi observed that camp workers kept patients in small metal huts that resembled cages and fed them only one meal a day.

Ongoing Efforts

Water Yourself, a Malagasy organization founded in 2021, is just one of the many projects focused on destigmatizing mental health and closing the gaps in healthcare accessibility. The organization provides mental health services and education, including diagnosis, prevention, therapy, workshops and counseling. Since its founding, it has partnered with 15 businesses and five nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), helped more than 1,000 individuals, and achieved a 10% increase in mental health awareness. By addressing the country’s severe treatment gaps and confronting the stigma where psychological distress is frequently misunderstood as possession, Water Yourself is creating an alternative to religious torture. Its integrated approach blends therapy, advocacy and community empowerment.

Water Yourself, like many other organizations fighting the misuse of religious ceremonies as solutions to medical care, understands that poverty is the main cause. The underfunding, poor infrastructure, and lack of utilities in the country’s healthcare facilities are the main reasons this important religious tradition is being misused by struggling Madagascans. The solution is not stripping Madagascans of an important indigenous custom, but rather providing citizens with the economic means to access affordable healthcare in Madagascar.

– Mia Puleo

Mia is based in Park City, UT, USA and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Changing Lives by Changing Minds: The Busyhead Project

 

The Busyhead ProjectNoah Kahan is a singer-songwriter from Stratford, Vermont. Born in 1997, he learned how to play guitar at a young age and earned his first record deal at 20 years old. In 2022, his song “Stick Season” brought him fame as it explored a particular time in his Vermont hometown, according to Genius. Since then, he has continued to discuss the difficulties of change, his challenging feelings surrounding his home, and the attention that comes with being famous, as detailed in The New Yorker. The full-length album of “Stick Season” gained him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, but even before then, his first full-length album “Busyhead,” released in 2019, was the start of Kahan’s well-being charity, The Busyhead Project. Struggling with his mental health from a young age, learning about himself through therapy and self-reflection has been a key aspect of his journey with his own mental health, as he described to The Guardian.

The Busyhead Project

The Busyhead Project was launched in 2023 as a nonprofit mental health organization founded by Kahan to end stigmatization, raise awareness, and improve resource accessibility. The website offers opportunities to get involved by learning how to support others struggling with their mental health, donating to organizations that provide resources, and inspiring activism in friends and family. In addition, the organization’s website features a Community Wall with thousands of notes written by fans and activists with advice to younger selves, one thing they are proud of, and other inspiring prompts. By building community through facilitating connection and recognizing personal struggles, Kahan has paved the way for inclusion and acceptance of mental health as a legitimate issue.

Success

The organization has also achieved significant success in fundraising. Since its founding, The Busyhead Project has raised over $6 million for more than 150 community-led organizations around the world to target mental health stigma. For instance, in 2025, Kahan held a benefit show at MGM Musical Hall at Fenway after the City of Boston declared Nov. 20, 2025, as “Noah Kahan’s The Busyhead Project Day.” This intimate crowd performance featured a surprise appearance from Niall Horan and raised more than $1.5 million, with proceeds split evenly between The Busyhead Project and The Red Sox Foundation.

Additionally, many of the festivals Kahan played at in 2025 featured wellness experiences with special products and kits for people to take care of their physical health and check in with themselves during the busy festival experience. These kits were given to more than 200 artists, bands, and crew members backstage. In 2025 alone, The Busyhead Project donated over $1 million to other international mental health organizations.

Mental Health Importance in Poverty

Mental health issues are important in poverty because the disparities in resource accessibility and respect for human rights for those living with neurological conditions vary widely between poor and rich countries. As poverty increases the risk of mental health problems, supporting people who struggle with their emotional well-being is crucial to addressing poverty in its entirety. Stigma is also a major aspect of mental health perception in developing countries, contributing to negative attitudes toward health care professionals due to medical distrust, cultural barriers, and lack of resources. Survey data from the World Mental Health Surveys shows that double the percentage of participants from developing countries faced discrimination due to mental illness compared to those from developed countries. Furthermore, in 2022, the World Health Organization reported that of the 970 million people suffering from mental disorders globally, 82% lived in low- and middle-income countries.

Without accessible and free mental health support, inequities will continue to harm those in poverty, exacerbating their struggles and making getting help more difficult.

– Niamh Werner

Niamh is based in New York, NY, USA and focuses on Celebs for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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7 Facts About Mental Health in Guinea-Bissau

Mental Health in Guinea-BissauMental health is an essential part of overall health and well-being, yet many countries continue to face barriers to providing accessible mental health care. In Guinea-Bissau, limited specialist services and wider pressures on the country’s health system create challenges for mental health care. At the same time, international organizations and development programs are supporting health professionals and social services, creating opportunities to improve mental health in the country. 

7 Facts About Mental Health in Guinea-Bissau

  • No Stand-Alone Mental Health Policy or Law: Developing an effective mental health system often begins with clear national policies and legislation. The WHO Mental Health Atlas 2020 reports that Guinea-Bissau had no stand-alone mental health policy or plan and no stand-alone mental health law. The country also had no separate or integrated policy or plan specifically covering child or adolescent mental health. These gaps show the importance of continued policy development as the country works to strengthen its mental health system.
  • Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Training is Taking Place: Recent international programs have focused on strengthening the skills of professionals who support people experiencing mental health challenges. UNICEF reported that it worked with WHO and Interpeace in Guinea-Bissau to strengthen the knowledge and skills of health professionals and social service workers in mental health and psychosocial support. This included training social workers within the health sector, helping professionals provide better support to vulnerable children and families.
  • The Country Has a Limited Mental Health Workforce: Access to mental healthcare is an important part of improving mental health in Guinea-Bissau and depends not only on services but also on the professionals available to provide them. The WHO recorded 27 mental health professionals in Guinea-Bissau, including 16 mental health nurses, three psychologists, three social workers and five other specialized mental health workers. The Atlas also reports that there were no psychiatrists at the time of the assessment, highlighting the country’s limited specialist workforce. Efforts to strengthen the wider workforce continue. In 2025, the World Bank approved a $20 million Guinea-Bissau Human Capital Project to improve health, education and social protection services. The project includes capacity building for health professionals, teachers and social workers. Earlier efforts also focused directly on mental health, such as a public mental health program that trains general health workers to identify and manage mental health conditions.
  • Changing Weather Could Place Further Pressure on Mental Health: Mental health in Guinea-Bissau is also connected to wider social and environmental challenges. In a 2024 article, psychiatrist Dr. Carol Lim discussed the potential mental health effects of changing weather patterns in the country. She highlighted how poverty, illness, climate-related anxiety and possible migration could increase mental health challenges while placing additional pressure on Guinea-Bissau’s limited medical infrastructure. This shows how improving mental health services may become increasingly important as communities face the effects of environmental change.
  • Efforts are Underway to Integrate Mental Health into General Health Care: Primary health care can play an important role in expanding access to mental health support. Although the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2020 found that Guinea-Bissau had not achieved functional integration of mental health into primary healthcare under its assessment criteria, earlier initiatives attempted to address this challenge. A public mental health program described in “Psychological Medicine” trained general health workers to identify and manage mental health conditions, helping make mental health support available through professionals already working within the wider health system.
  • Most Mental Healthcare is Paid for Out of Pocket: The way health care is financed can influence people’s ability to obtain treatment. According to the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2020, people in Guinea-Bissau mostly or entirely paid out of pocket for mental health services and psychotropic medicines. The Atlas also reported that national health insurance or reimbursement schemes did not cover treatment for conditions including psychosis, bipolar disorder and depression. These financial barriers can make accessing mental healthcare particularly difficult for people with limited incomes.
  • International Cooperation is Supporting Mental Health Development: International cooperation is creating new opportunities to strengthen mental health in Guinea-Bissau. UNICEF has worked with WHO and Interpeace to strengthen mental health and psychosocial support skills among health professionals and social service workers. Guinea-Bissau is also included among the participating countries in the WHO African Region’s 2026 Mental Health Intercountry Learning Workshop for West and Central Africa. The workshop will allow participating countries to share experiences and develop roadmaps for strengthening their mental health systems.

Looking Ahead

Improving mental health in Guinea-Bissau will require continued investment in services, trained professionals and stronger health systems. Recent initiatives show that work is already taking place. UNICEF, WHO and Interpeace have supported mental health and psychosocial training, while the World Bank’s Human Capital Project is investing in the country’s health and social service workforce.

Guinea-Bissau’s participation in the WHO African Region’s 2026 Mental Health Intercountry Learning Workshop provides another opportunity for the country to learn from regional experiences and contribute to plans for strengthening mental health systems ahead of the region’s 2030 targets. Together, these initiatives could help expand the country’s capacity to respond to mental health needs over the coming years.

– Aniya Akram

Aniya is based in Bradford, UK and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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From Patient to Facilitator: Treating Depression in Zambia

Treating Depression in ZambiaZambia, a country of about 20 million people, had just 10 psychiatrists as of 2020, according to the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Atlas. For a woman experiencing depression in a low-income community in Lusaka, the odds of ever seeing one are small. Treating depression in Zambia has instead come to depend on a different workforce entirely: women who have recovered from depression themselves. Through StrongMinds Zambia, former clients train as peer facilitators and deliver group talk therapy in their own neighborhoods and the Zambian government is now integrating the model into its own ministries. The workforce this country could not train is emerging from the ranks of the treated.

Difficulty of Treating Depression in Zambia

The treatment gap is stark. As of 2020, Zambia had 10 psychiatrists, 15 psychologists and 425 mental health nurses, a total of about 760 mental health professionals for a population then estimated at 19.6 million. The country has a single psychiatric hospital, Chainama Hills in Lusaka. For most Zambians, formal mental health care is not delayed or rationed. It is simply absent.

Poverty deepens the gap from both directions. In 2022, 64.2% of Zambians, roughly 13 million people, lived on less than $2.15 a day, among the highest rates in the world, and financial shocks are themselves a trigger for depression. The loss of a breadwinner or sudden unemployment “inflicts severe emotional and economic strain on families,” significantly shaping how they experience depression, Chilufya Chimbala, program manager at StrongMinds Zambia, told The Borgen Project in an interview. A woman’s mental health and her household’s income, in other words, rise and fall together.

A Therapy Built for Communities

The StrongMinds answer does not require a clinic. The nonprofit, which runs group therapy programs in Uganda as well as Zambia, delivers Group Interpersonal Psychotherapy, known as IPT-G, a talk therapy model recommended by the World Health Organization and designed specifically for delivery by laypersons. In Zambia, groups of 10 to 12 women meet weekly for six weeks, in sessions lasting 60 to 90 minutes, often in whatever community space is available.

The process begins in the community itself. Facilitators run sensitization campaigns and screen neighbors for depressive symptoms using a standardized assessment tool. Women who show symptoms are invited to a pre-group session, a conversation that identifies their depression triggers and sets their goals for therapy. From there, the group convenes weekly, following a structured curriculum of discussion, role-playing exercises and home practice. A burden rating scale tracks each woman’s emotional well-being session by session.

The Women Who Became the Facilitators

What makes the model unusual is who runs it. The facilitators are not clinicians. They are former clients, women who completed the therapy themselves and chose to deliver it to others. During the final sessions of each therapy cycle, StrongMinds staff identify participants interested in facilitating. Those who qualify receive five days of training in IPT-G, then ongoing coaching from StrongMinds mental health coaches as they lead groups of their own.

Chimbala argues the lived experience is not a limitation but the point. Because peer facilitators have survived depression themselves, she says, “they possess a deep understanding of the model” and can relate to what participants are going through. In close-knit communities where women’s lives already overlap, a neighbor who has survived the same darkness can reach where a stranger with a clipboard cannot.

Maureen Chisanga, 24, of Bauleni in Lusaka, is one of the women the model reached. After her husband lost his job, financial strain and marital conflict tipped her into persistent overthinking, fatigue and emotional distress she did not recognize as depression. In her therapy group, she found women carrying the same weight. Through the sessions’ discussions, role-play and homework, she built skills in communication, negotiation and conflict management.

When Recovery Becomes Income

What happened after Chisanga’s therapy ended is the part no clinical trial measures. She and several group members stayed in contact, supporting one another and together launched a small vegetable vending business. The enterprise now lets her contribute to her household’s income, the very pressure point that had driven her depression in the first place.

Her story reflects something Chimbala sees repeatedly. Depression, she says, makes it harder for women to work, communicate, make decisions and stay connected to family and community. Recovery reverses that: she points to “notable improvements in their behavior,” including better childcare, more active engagement in community life and stronger relationships. In households living close to the poverty line, a mother’s recovered mind is an economic asset as real as a harvest or a wage.

From Pilot to Public System

Treating depression in Zambia is, increasingly, government business. Rather than expanding as a standalone organization, StrongMinds Zambia is integrating its peer facilitators into the government system. The organization currently works with four government ministries, with plans to integrate across all of them, so that ministries take ownership of the program and supervise its delivery. In 2025, a partnership with the Ministry of Community Development and Social Services embedded depression care into Community Welfare Assistance Committees.

In February 2026, StrongMinds and the Zambia Correctional Service launched group therapy for inmates and officers, facilitated by trained inmates and officers themselves. Demand is the pressure that never eases. The therapy is free or low cost, and Chimbala says stakeholders consistently push for expansion into new areas, growth the organization manages through government partnerships.

What the Evidence Shows

The results are tracked, not assumed. StrongMinds Zambia conducts post-assessments at two weeks, six months and 12 months after therapy ends, alongside client satisfaction measures. Across StrongMinds programs, roughly 73% to 80% of clients screen depression-free after therapy, with results sustained six months later. A peer-reviewed 2025 analysis of program data from Uganda and Zambia found the group model effective at scale, including when delivered by peers. Independent evaluators have noted that effect sizes in recent studies are smaller than in the earliest trials, a reminder that the model is promising rather than proven beyond question.

The Multiplying Cure

Ten psychiatrists cannot treat a nation. But a model in which every recovered woman can become the next facilitator carries its own arithmetic, one that multiplies rather than rations. Chisanga entered a therapy group unable to name what was wrong with her. She left it with coping skills, a support network and a business. Treating depression in Zambia will require sustained funding, government follow-through and honest measurement for years to come. What StrongMinds Zambia has shown is that the shortage of specialists need not mean a shortage of care.

– Amna Al Harrazi

Amna is based in Dubai, UAE and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Dementia’s Impact on Poor Communities

Dementia's Impact on Poor CommunitiesDementia is a general term for many kinds of cognitive illnesses that cause memory loss and personality changes, among other symptoms. There are many causes of dementia, including genetic factors, environmental influences and economic standards of living.

Lack of Studies in Poor Communities

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact number of those who suffer from dementia. The lack of identification, education and methods of counting all contribute to the lack of information. Researchers were able to obtain information from only a few countries; half of the published studies were from Nigeria. They estimate that only 10% of dementia patients are formally or medically diagnosed in sub-Saharan Africa. Of those diagnosed, the majority either cannot afford medications or lack access to proper facilities in poorer areas.

Accurate numbers and the impact of dementia in poverty-stricken areas are challenging to determine because dementia is often attributed to supernatural causes. The lack of understanding of dementia as a medical condition is influenced by beliefs. Many see dementia as the result of bewitching or evil spirits. Stigmas against dementia make it harder to conduct proper studies to assess the illness’s impact on communities.

The higher prevalence of dementia in poor communities is due to factors such as lack of education, poorer health and unemployment. The misunderstanding of the condition as a medical illness versus a supernatural one complicates studies on the connection between dementia and poverty. These challenges make it difficult to implement long-term interventions and educational programs.

Caregiving

Dementia’s impact on poor communities differs among countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The economic strain of caregiving in these communities complicates basic life necessities due to the time and emotional strain required for care. For example, in Uganda, the responsibility of care falls on the family, while in South Africa, there is a culture of rotating care within the community. The care of dementia patients is emotionally draining, with 60% of survey respondents indicating that caregivers suffer from depression, anxiety and other mental health issues. However, cultural understanding and perspectives allow many to remain resilient in their situations.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that dementia is a worldwide health priority. In 2015, scientists and researchers in Finland published the results of the FINGER method. The official name is the Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER). The method includes five focuses: physical activity, healthy eating, mental stimulation, social activities and cardiovascular health.

Taking Action

The Brain and Mind Institute at Aga Khan University in Nairobi, Kenya, in collaboration with the FINGERS Brain Health Institute, started Africa-FINGERS to create culturally specific lifestyles and interventions to reduce dementia. Africa-FINGERS is currently in Kenya and Nigeria, with participating countries including South Africa, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Mauritius.

One study that began in late October 2025 compares the lifestyles of two areas in Kenya: the urban city of Nairobi and a rural area in the county of Kilifi. Researchers are examining modern life in Nairobi, where residents have less social support, eat more processed foods, are less physically active and face other modern stresses, compared to rural life, which includes more social support, more physical activity and less processed food.

Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya have models that combine primary care professionals, community and family support along with modern technologies. These programs have shown greater patient and caregiver well-being compared with traditional models. They are cost-effective and will be integrated into their health systems.

South Africa has created the “Memory Teams” model. This model uses dementia-trained health workers to assess and manage health care for rural groups, even engaging with communities that have no care. It has also implemented mobile health interventions that help with self-efficacy improvement and medication adherence.

Positive Work

Dementia’s impact on poor communities ranges from the stresses of a lack of information, to depression among family members and communities, to an economic burden from caring for elderly family members. Many economic, social and religious barriers make studying dementia’s impact on poor communities in sub-Saharan Africa very challenging. Yet, despite these challenges, governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) like Africa-FINGERS are studying the reasons behind the rise in dementia, along with lifestyle and policy factors, to mitigate dementia’s impact on poor communities. More information about this little-understood disease will help alleviate the emotional and economic drain on national and local levels. Researchers remain optimistic about the participation and progress yet to come.

– Jonathan Snowiss

Jonathan is based in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, USA and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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K-Pop Fandoms in Southeast Asia and Public Health

K-Pop Fandoms in Southeast AsiaAcross the globe, youth voter turnout has been steadily declining in comparison to previous generations, but not because Gen Z has grown apathetic. Researchers increasingly argue that younger generations are not disengaging from politics so much as rerouting collective energy away from traditional channels and into alternative forms of advocacy.

K-Pop Fandoms in Southeast Asia

Nowhere has this shift been more visible than in the recent mobilization efforts of certain K-pop fandoms in Southeast Asia. BTS, a South Korean boy group whose global rise effectively ignited the modern K-pop fandom era, commands one of the most organizationally sophisticated fan bases worldwide. In Indonesia alone, the group amasses roughly 6 million self-identified ARMYs.

Since BTS’ meteoric surge in 2013, their fan communities have been labeled online as commercially manufactured obsessions, dismissed for their association with a toxic, image-policing idol culture. As idols struggled publicly with their mental health, these fandoms began recognizing that their substantial organizational power could help mobilize resources for change without requiring institutional leeway. Their initiatives increasingly support low-income communities across the region, where poverty and limited access to mental health services often reinforce one another. In Indonesia and the Philippines, where millions still live below national poverty lines, fan-led initiatives have evolved into grassroots forms of both public health advocacy and poverty alleviation.

From Fandom to First Responders

When the Kanjuruhan Stadium tragedy killed at least 125 people in Malang, East Java, in October 2022, fans mobilized faster than most formal relief structures. Using the Kita Bisa crowdfunding platform, Indonesian ARMY raised more than Rp 447 million, approximately $29,000, in just over a day, surpassing their initial fundraising goal of Rp 75 million nearly six times over. Funds were then directed to victims’ families as business capital for those who lost their household providers and as educational support for children left behind.

The initiative directly assisted low-income households suddenly deprived of income earners and helped reduce the risk of families falling deeper into poverty. It was not the first mobilization of this kind. Indonesian ARMY had previously organized food aid for motorcycle taxi drivers during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, many of whom experienced severe financial hardship due to lockdown measures and reduced demand for work.

Fandom for Change

In the Philippines, K-pop fandom philanthropy has moved beyond spontaneous fundraising into something more institutional. World Vision Philippines, the Philippine branch of the international humanitarian organization established in 1957 and operating in nearly 100 countries, launched Fandom for Change, a platform that enables fans to donate directly in the name of their favorite artists, channeling enthusiasm into support for children’s education, health, nutrition, clean water access and disaster relief.

BTS ARMY Philippines has been among its most active participants. Following Typhoon Rolly in 2020, Filipino ARMYs organized relief efforts for affected communities and later launched a fundraising campaign tied to BTS’s ninth anniversary in partnership with World Vision. A separate fandom alliance donating in actor Ji Chang Wook’s name contributed half a million pesos, equivalent to approximately $28,500, toward FAITH Garden Kits for pandemic-affected families. The kits provided low-income households with vegetable seedlings and resources to supplement food supplies and generate additional income. The platform simply formalized what fans were already doing organically, giving a structured, measurable outlet to their collective energy.

These efforts demonstrate how such fan communities are increasingly also functioning as grassroots anti-poverty actors, directing resources toward vulnerable communities through highly responsive networks.

The Ripple Effect Across the Region

At the root of much of this fandom-driven public health action is BTS’s own decade-long engagement with mental health advocacy. In November 2017, BTS launched the Love Myself campaign in partnership with UNICEF, built around the principle that self-love is the foundation of well-being. Since then, the campaign has raised nearly $3 million globally for UNICEF’s child protection and mental health programs, generating almost 5 million tweets and more than 50 million social media engagements worldwide.

In April 2024, marking the campaign’s sixth anniversary, UNICEF renewed its collaboration with BTS to support the #OnMyMind initiative, focused specifically on the mental health of children and young people. Across Southeast Asia, where fan communities first witnessed their idols openly discuss burnout from industry pressure, that messaging translated into fan-led awareness campaigns extending well beyond streaming charts.

A New Model of Grassroots Health Advocacy

Popular culture has always shaped how societies talk about what matters, but rarely has it moved people to act at this scale. What K-pop fandoms demonstrate is that personal attachment to a figure generates a quality of motivation that policy campaigns and public health messaging rarely achieve on their own.

This matters enormously in a region where, according to ASEAN Magazine, nearly 90% of people living with mental health conditions receive no formal care. Mental health stigma remains highly prevalent due to cultural norms that discourage discussing psychological distress and seeking professional help. The consequences are particularly severe for low-income populations, who often face additional financial and geographic barriers to accessing care.

The positive trickle-down effect of idol-driven mental health advocacy is quietly normalizing help-seeking among teenagers for whom these topics have long been taboo, reshaping norms at a societal level. In doing so, these K-Pop fandoms in Southeast Asia illustrate how digital fan communities can evolve into unexpected engines of both public health advocacy and poverty reduction.

– Estelle Aubry

Estelle is based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and focuses on Global Health, Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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The Growing Need for Mental Health Support in Haiti

Mental Health Support in HaitiHaiti, a Caribbean country that shares an island with the Dominican Republic, faces an unstable government and frequent natural disasters that cause significant damage. Due to its geographical position, the country experiences natural calamities such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, leading to food insecurity and instability. Over the years, these challenges have forced many to leave in search of a better and safer life. Haiti is characterized not only by natural disasters but also by armed groups and violent gangs controlling some areas. These conditions have significantly impacted children, women and young individuals.

The Growing Need for Mental Health Support

While the need for medical care, education and food stability is visible and recognized, the psychological and mental health sphere has been significantly ignored. Efforts in social services, including mental health support, are essential. More than one in five Haitians face serious mental health challenges, and these conditions have led to increased stress, psychological issues, sleep problems, anxiety and depression, creating an immediate need for mental health support in Haiti.

Organizations Working for Mental Health in Haiti

The 2010 earthquake triggered a humanitarian crisis, affecting Haitians both in the country and in the U.S. due to relocation and cultural adjustment. The uncertainty and new challenges faced by Haitians, especially migrants, created a demand for mental health support. Haiti is one of the countries with the largest number of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operating for its recovery. In recent decades, especially after 2010, organizations such as Rebati Santé Mentale (RSM) have rushed to provide mental health support. RSM offers clinical services in the country and to the Haitian diaspora in the U.S., along with consultation and training on mental health for government agencies, schools, health care systems and community-based organizations. RSM is also dedicated to educating on the importance of mental health in well-being and the creation of stable communities. The nonprofit organization researches culturally sensitive mental health support in Haiti, contributing to a shift in global understanding.

The mental health support crisis extends beyond Haiti, affecting Haitian emigrants globally. Gemima St. Louis and Gina Dessources Benjamin address this by supporting Haitian communities in the U.S. through the Haitian Mental Health Network, which respects cultural values and language while promoting awareness of mental health illnesses and paths to wellness.

Looking Ahead

NGOs, organizations and movements continue to highlight and address this emergency. The issue is not limited to Haiti but affects Haitian migrants worldwide. As awareness grows and culturally sensitive approaches expand, sustained investment in mental health services remains essential to the long-term recovery and well-being of Haitian communities both at home and abroad

– Ilaria Alberti

Ilaria is based in Dublin, Ireland and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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4 Key Facts About Mental Health in Nicaragua

Mental Health in NicaraguaMental health struggles in Nicaragua are largely unobserved and underreported. Discussions surrounding public health issues, poverty-stricken communities, limited infrastructure and unequal access to care are far from the limelight. Global attention surrounding the mental health crisis has risen in recent years. 

Yet Nicaragua faces significant barriers that prevent its citizens from receiving adequate care and support. Understanding mental health in Nicaragua requires examining both economic conditions and the healthcare system that serves the population.

Mental Health Struggles and Poverty Have a Close Link

Mental health in Nicaragua is closely linked to poverty, with about 25% of the population living in poverty, according to the World Food Program (WFP). Individuals in Nicaragua are exposed to stressors like food insecurity, economic instability and limited access to basic services for survival. These socioeconomic pressures lead to lifelong struggles and psychological distress.  

Addressing the mental health struggles linked to life in Nicaragua’s economy is complicated by financial hardship and limited access to care.

Not Enough Mental Health Professionals Are Available

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Nicaragua has approximately 610 mental health workers nationwide, including psychologists, psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses. There is only one mental health facility in the whole country, which is located in Managua, called Hospital Psiquiátrico Nacional. Fewer mental health resources and access to care mean an insufficient amount of treatment and awareness. 

Mental health issues are not as prioritized as other health problems, leaving people untreated and without support.

Based on the WHO-AIMS evaluation data reported for Nicaragua (circa 2004), the government allocated about 1% of the overall health budget to mental health. The lack of attention and investments leads to minimal resources for the institutions already established. It creates growing concern for mental illnesses left untreated. 

Due to Nicaragua’s political instability and recurring natural disasters, mental health care is often not prioritized. These challenges contribute to poor mental health outcomes, yet according to research published in Global Health Action, fewer than 25% of the population receive treatment.

Stigma, high costs of care, a limited number of trained professionals and a lack of services and facilities all contribute to the ongoing crisis in mental health and create significant barriers. While national efforts to address mental health needs represent progress, the primary challenge lies in how effectively funds are allocated.

Final Remarks

Mental health care in Nicaragua faces significant challenges due to underreporting, limited resources and widespread poverty, all of which restrict access to treatment. While developed countries are placing greater emphasis on mental health, developing nations like Nicaragua continue to face financial and political barriers that limit adequate care for citizens. In response to these challenges, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) returned to Nicaragua in 2018 to provide psychosocial support. 

The organization assisted people experiencing anxiety, adjustment disorders and post-traumatic stress after witnessing or enduring violence linked to civil and political unrest.

– Suheiry Frayre

Suheiry is based in Los Angeles, CA, USA and focuses on Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Mental Health Resources in Uganda

Mental Health Resources in UgandaUganda has an international poverty rate of almost 60% as of 2019. With so many people living in poverty, the mental health crisis in Uganda is serious. Poverty raises rates of depression and anxiety, while Uganda’s history of civil conflict has also increased cases of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). As one of the top six countries in Africa with the highest rates of people suffering from depressive disorders, Uganda’s mental health care system is overcrowded and struggling to keep up with the country’s needs.

However, programs have been developed to increase mental health resources in Uganda, such as YouBelong Uganda and Pamoja Afya Initiative.

YouBelong Uganda

Founded in 2016, YouBelong Uganda works to deinstitutionalize people from mental institutions and focus on support through the community. A major concern surrounding mental health resources in Uganda is that many people become trapped in institutional systems and are unable to reacclimate to their communities. YouBelong uses “The YouBelong linked model of engagement and care [to build] a bridge between the institution and the community.”

A key part of this is that YouBelong provides transport for people from institutions back to their communities. YouBelong also uses government resources to prepare the individual for community life and to prepare the community to best support the individual.

The YouBelong HOME is a section of YouBelong that focuses on addressing the inflow and outflow problems at the national mental institution. It works to reintegrate between 40 and 60 people a month from Butabika National Referral Mental Hospital back into their communities. To reduce inflow to the mental hospital, YouBelong is working to expand resources at local health centers to help people before they reach institutionalization.

YouBelong has several programs under its wing. These programs address issues such as inequalities in mental health care for women, early intervention for children experiencing mental health issues, psychosis and learning from the experiences of those in recovery. YouBelong Uganda is a large organization that works at many levels to increase access to mental health resources in Uganda.

Pamoja Afya Initiative

Pamoja Afya focuses on communities surrounding Uganda’s national parks and was founded in 2024. This organization operates on a much broader scale, covering topics such as water and sanitation, snakebite prevention and coexistence with wildlife. Among its many programs, Pamoja Afya Initiative also has a mental health program that provides targeted interventions to help communities.

The initiative brings awareness to youth in schools about disorders such as depression, substance abuse and PTSD. These awareness programs teach students emotional regulation, healthy coping mechanisms and relationship building. Pamoja Afya also works with teachers to foster a more emotionally safe learning environment. 

It equips teachers with the tools to support their students and themselves. The program also conducts mental health screenings and gives those diagnosed with mental health issues access to resources.

Conclusion

Programs like YouBelong Uganda and Pamoja Afya Initiative are helping bridge the gap in access to proper mental health resources that many Ugandan citizens lack. By giving small communities resources to address mental health problems early on, people are better able to cope with the growing mental health crisis. YouBelong then steps in to help reintegrate people into their communities and get the support they need.

Mental health resources in Uganda are few and far between, but certain organizations are working to increase access for more people.

– Kaitlyn Crane

Kaitlyn is based in Rohnert Park, CA, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr