With the assistance of a consortium organized through HTech4Dev, Prof. Mbayang Ndiaye NIANG recently submitted a Letter of Intent to Grand Challenge Canada about her project on mental e-health in Senegal.
This project is aimed at overcoming the large regional disparities in access to mental healthcare in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) through the deployment of relevant Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. These technologies will firstly provide support to primary care health workers by strengthening their links with specialized physicians working in reference centers and will secondly build permanent links between health workers and patients through teleconsultation. A pilot phase will take place in Louga and St Louis, and a second phase will involve the target population of patients (settled and wandering) with severe mental disorders and their relatives in six regions of Senegal: Saint Louis, Louga, Matam, Tambacounda, Kaffrine, and Diourbel. Reduction of the impact of discrimination and stigmatization will be also addressed through specific e-training programs directed towards health professionals and lay persons. This comprehensive approach, if successful, may be easily adapted to similar settings, thanks to the growing access of the vast majority of LMICs to ICT tools.
With support of various stakeholders, we believe this project may durably change mental healthcare in Senegal:
- University Cheikh Anta Diop of Dakar
- Senegalese Ministry of Health and Social Affairs
- Senegalese Ministry of ICTs
- MEDES (Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology)
- Astrium Satellites
- Sanofi, Access to medicines
- St. Boniface Hospital, Winnipeg, Canada
- CNRS, Aix-Marseille University
- UMVF: the Francophone Virtual Medical University
