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A cultural understanding of the Mental Health and PsychoSocial (MHPSS) in Guinea-Conakry during the Ebola crisis

Shaping approaches to service-provision during a humanitarian crisis

Responding to WHO’s request of a MHPSS literature review, Emilie, led the team of researcher who produced a strategic report for International Medical Corps (IMC) that sought to understand the cultural, social, and psychological underpinnings of the population in Guinee-Conakry, including in the context of the Ebola crisis. 

We borrowed an integrated psychological and anthropological framework to inform the design of culturally-sensitive health and MHPSS services in this unique emergency context. The report explored prevalence, local constructions of distress, existing sources of support, and help-seeking strategies. In the context of the Ebola crisis, a focus was placed on understanding local causes and courses of illness and misfortune in their relationship with multiple existing cosmologies. The report documents further the population’s relationships with the world of the living, the dead, the spirits, and nature itself.

The responses to the humanitarian crisis is also analysed together with the social and psychological consequences for the population overall, and for the affected individuals specifically.

The technical guidance  targeted policy-makers, donors, and service providers locally, nationally, regionally in West Africa.

 

Find out more about Our Services in Strategic Guidance for organisations.  

“The extent of the deaths, damage to the social fabric, economic loss, anxieties, disruption to normal grieving practices, and stigmatisation that the Ebola virus caused presents considerable challenges to MHPSS.”

A cultural understanding of the Mental Health and PsychoSocial (MHPSS) in Guinea-Conakry during the Ebola crisis

Shaping approaches to service-provision during a humanitarian crisis

“The extent of the deaths, damage to the social fabric, economic loss, anxieties, disruption to normal grieving practices, and stigmatisation that the Ebola virus caused presents considerable challenges to MHPSS.”

Responding to WHO’s request of a MHPSS literature review, Emilie, led the team of researcher who produced a strategic report for International Medical Corps (IMC) that sought to understand the cultural, social, and psychological underpinnings of the population in Guinee-Conakry, including in the context of the Ebola crisis. 

We borrowed an integrated psychological and anthropological framework to inform the design of culturally-sensitive health and MHPSS services in this unique emergency context. The report explored prevalence, local constructions of distress, existing sources of support, and help-seeking strategies. In the context of the Ebola crisis, a focus was placed on understanding local causes and courses of illness and misfortune in their relationship with multiple existing cosmologies. The report documents further the population’s relationships with the world of the living, the dead, the spirits, and nature itself.

The responses to the humanitarian crisis is also analysed together with the social and psychological consequences for the population overall, and for the affected individuals specifically.

The technical guidance  targeted policy-makers, donors, and service providers locally, nationally, regionally in West Africa.

 

Find out more about Our Services in Strategic Guidance for organisations.