Thiruporur
Between 2005 and 2007 Cittadinanza financed the study and implementation of a ‘Community Mental Health Programme’ in Thiruporur, proposed and run by SCARF (Schizophrenia Research Foundation), an indian NGO that since 1984 has been operating in the Tamil Nadu region, intervening in those areas where mental health services are more inadequate.
The project was implemented through the active participation of the beneficiary communities, on the assumption that families, and society in general, have always played – especially in India – a significant role in the treatment and care of those suffering from chronic mental illness.
In 3 years, the main outcomes achieved by the project were: (1) a ‘Community Mental Health Centre’ was established in Thiruporur; (2) about 130 patients, suffering from chronic mental illness, were identified, referred to the centre and are now regularly receiving treatment and assistance; (3) regular screening and monitoring of the patients is taking place also through an innovatory telemedicine programme; (4) a group of ‘community level workers’ was trained in mental health, focusing on field activities like identification and home monitoring of the patients.
Taking into consideration the effectiveness in terms of costs/benefits of the activities implemented by SCARF (Phase 1) and the important needs for assistance still existing in the area, Cittadinanza resolved to support the prosecution of the project (Phase 2) for three years.
In the period 2008-2010 the project aims at:
- strengthening the existing outpatient service and the home-screening activities within the community;
- extending the project to a larger geographical area;
- implementing community rehabilitation programmes and starting up a pilot facility promoting the patients’ economic self-sustainability;
- establishing self-help groups;
- launching psycho-educational and awareness programmes for the whole community;
- consolidating the role of ‘community level workers’ who run field activities, like identification and home monitoring of psychiatric patients, providing their families with assistance and support.
Patients will be screened at least once a month, will be provided with free medicines and, thank to the telemedicine programme, will receive medical advice and assistance even at distance.
Furthermore, income generating activities – like milking-cows breeding – will be promoted, thus committing the patients not only with an important ‘rehabilitative’ action but also with a tool for economic self-sustainability: a rotational loan mechanism will allow the patients’ families to purchase a cow, and then – thank to the profit coming from the selling of milk – to repay the debt and start earning a living.
