The Village of Kalenga, Tanzania
Our research shows Kalenga has the highest suicide rate in the world. You can help. Donate now. Your donation of money, auctionable items or services will allow us to deepen our understanding of the causes of suicide in Kalenga and enable us to expand our project to include the nearby villages of Mkoga, Isakalilo and Tosamaganga.
Why Global Mental Health Initiatives?
We founded Global Mental Health Initiatives to combine our skills in policy, planning, research, development and treatment.
We can bring a broad range of experience and a deep knowledge base to mental health as a public health concern
Mental Health is not about who we are or where we live, it's about how we treat each other.
We believe that the world is what we make it. We want to make it better.
From the beginning, the purpose of this trip has been to understand more about the real daily lives of the people of the Ward of Kalenga, the Wahehe people and what it is that contributes to such a frighteningly high suicide rate among them in this part of Tanzania. Suicide is particular high among females whom, our preliminary research shows, suicide at a rate one and a half times that of the men, ten times that of their contemporaries in the U.S.
Friday, Sept 23rd 2011, 7.00 - 9.00pm, Our Live and Online Auction of Celebrity Memorabila will take place at Postworks, 100 Avenue of the Americas, Tenth Floor, (enter btw Watts and Grand) New York, NY
Donations from, among others, Steve Buscemi, Martin Scorsese, Ben Stiller, Robin Wright and Thom Zimny, as well as rare and one-of-a-kind items from Bruce Springsteens "Darkness on the Edge of Town" CD / DVD and HBO documentary will be auctioned to save lives in Tanzania, East Africa.
Drink a glass of wine, learn more about our work, join our growing family of supporters and do your celebrity watching in the gorgeous loft where some of your favorite movies got their post-production work-out. ($20 suggested donation)
If you wish to make a financial contribution, to donate items or services you can visit our 'you can help' page or email info@gmhi.org
We will present our research on suicide in Tanzania at "African Footprint in
Global Mental Health"; the second World Congress of the World Federation for Mental Health
to be held in Cape Town, South Africa, Oct 17th to 24th, 2011 (wmhc2011.org). The conference is an important opportunity for us to meet and learn from colleagues who do similar work.
The Government of Tanzania has notified us that they support our work in
Kalenga. Dr. Joseph Mbatia, Director, NCD, Department of Health and Social
Welfare, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Section has reviewed and
approved our research and at his suggestion we will be meeting with him to
discuss funding for the next stage of our work. Dr. Mbatia's is an
important voice in the development of mental health resources for
Tanzania. You can read about some of his work here and here and we are honored to have an
opportunity to work with him.
Dr. Kristen Shirey has just returned from Kenya. She writes:
the data you have just about doubles the 'body of eveidence' we have on suicide in East Africa
We continue to receive reports of suicide from the area around the village of Kalenga, the site of our initial research.(hyperlink to paper attached)
Our local contacts tell us that a radio station in Iringa (the District capital, population about 100,000) has reported an 'epidemic' of suicide.