AMARI Annual Scientific Meeting focusses on youth depression

The University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences hosted the inaugural Annual Scientific Meeting for AMARI: the African Mental Health Research Initiative. The conference took place at the Kingdom Hotel in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe on 22-23 March 2017.

Delegates attended from all AMARI partner countries: Ethiopia, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Staff from the Centre for Global Mental Health in London (comprising London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and King’s College London) also attended.

PhD and Post-Doc fellows from the AMARI project presented their work, supervisors talked about their research in mental health, while guests from Medecins Sans Frontieres discussed their initiatives in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean Minister for Health and Child Care, Dr David Parirenyatwa, gave a speech to officially open the conference.

Further addresses by AMARI Director Dr Dixon Chibanda and Zimbabwean musician Tariro neGitare set out the mental health challenges faced by young people. These were put in context by Zimbabwean service users who described their own experiences and recovery journeys from mental health difficulties beginning in adolescence.

Prior to the conference, all AMARI fellows attended a two-day workshop on leadership development. This combined mentoring training with skills for giving effective presentations.

The second AMARI Annual Scientific Meeting is scheduled to take place in Malawi in 2018.