MACS paid for a Mental Health Awareness course to be run by the outreach services from St Luke’s Hospital. The aim of the course was to explain to local leaders, clients and their guardians that mental illness is not contagious or untreatable and to reduce the stigma, to encourage those affected to go for education and to train community mental health support groups.

The training took place in the 6 health centres which are; Gawanani, Mposa, Nkasala, Chilipa Matope and St. Luke’s Hospital.
The training targeted the following groups of people;

1. Local leaders
2. Health Surveillance Assistants
3. Guardians and patients
4. It also involved formulation of support groups for people living with epilepsy at each health centre.

The training took place in three phases;

1. Training for local leaders and Health Surveillance Assistance

This took place in six sessions.  It was one day training. Emphasis was made on the roles of local leaders and Health Surveillance Assistants in the care of epileptic/mentally ill patients.  It was explained that one of their roles was to identify patients suspected of epilepsy/mental illness and refer them to the hospital for proper management.

Most of the guardians were happy with the training.  They admitted they lacked information especially about the cause of these conditions.  Most of them associated these conditions with witchcraft.

The support groups have been formulated in all the 6 health centres and comprise:

1. One local leader
2. Health Surveillance Assistants
3. A teacher
4. Guardians
5. Patients