Hosted by the GPH Department of Global & Environmental Health
Mental health remains a significant public health challenge in most developing countries where resources are scarce, exacerbated by competing health priorities, a limited number of mental healthcare providers, and sociocultural barriers, including stigma surrounding highly prevalent chronic illnesses, such as HIV/AIDS, with critical populations maintaining an increased risk of mental illness compared to that of the general population. These populations include, but are not limited to, children, adolescents, people with chronic medical conditions, and college students. The Uganda Ministry of Health recommends the integration of screening for mental health disorders into routine HIV care for persons living with HIV. For children living with HIV, one of the most critical risk factors for mental health problems is HIV status non-disclosure, while a growing number of studies are documenting significant benefits of HIV status disclosure. As healthcare systems in these countries struggle to address numerous health challenges, several opportunities can be explored to build long-lasting, culturally appropriate, and cost-effective interventions, including adapting or designing alternative implementation strategies for existing interventions, and utilizing digital/online platforms. Therefore, understanding the mental health landscape in developing countries creates opportunities for collaborative research that promotes global mental health.
Dr. Joseph Kirabira is an ACHIEVE fellow (2023 Cohort) at Makerere University in conjunction with New York University and a doctoral student at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in the Building Capacity in Implementation Science for Non-Communicable Diseases (BImS-NCD) program. He is also a Commonwealth Scholar at the University of Manchester undertaking a Master of Public Health. He has vast experience in training health professionals including medical, nursing, and graduate students and has worked with various academic institutions in Uganda. Currently, he is a Senior Lecturer at Busitema University’s Faculty of Health Sciences (Eastern Uganda) where he also chairs the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health. His research focuses on improving the mental health of children and adolescents living with chronic medical illnesses (HIV/AIDS and epilepsy) and college/university students. He has conducted several exploratory studies that have led to several peer reviewed publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=hXqClxgAAAAJ&hl=en. He has received several early career researcher and scholarly awards locally and internationally. He is a member of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and an Early Career Researcher awardee with his work focused on assessing the association between pediatric HIV status disclosure, mental health, and health-related quality of life. His current work as an ACHIEVE fellow focuses on adapting and pilot testing a pediatric HIV disclosure intervention in Eastern Uganda. This study leverages on the experiences of caregivers to create a peer support mechanism for safe HIV status disclosure to minimize adverse mental health outcomes among children. He is passionate as a researcher, scholar, mentor, and leader in the field of mental and public health.