Season’s Greetings

It has been a busy year for Jamie’s Fund and time has flown since I visited Kisiizi in April.

I recently met with the Cheshire and Wirral Partnership team who had not long returned from Kisiizi and had undertaken some great work there with the staff at Kisiizi Hospital. The team, headed by  Dr Niall Campbell, included Joanna Holland and Dee Brace, both Nurse Practitioners in Early Intervention, Dr Unwana Etta and  Jenny Milburn, Specialist OT . They have some very compelling stories of their week there and we hope to bring you some of these in the New Year.

There has been a lot of activity in Fundraising with Brian, our Community Fundraiser organisiing events to take place in 2015 and strengthening our links with Chester University and their 175th Anniversary Fundraising Campaign.  In addition, the Buy a Brick Campaign continues and if any of you have unwanted gifts at Christmas please let Brian know as he will be happy to sell them on Ebay for you with all proceeds going to Jamie’s Fund. Please do keep an eye on our Facebook page and website for updates on forthcoming events.

We are planning a media campaign in January and hope to raise the profile of Jamie’s Fund early in the new year through local and hopefully some national, media. We will annonce any publicity via the website in advance if possible to make sure you don’t miss our story in the press.

As we end the year, I would like to thank all those who have and continue to raise funds or have made donations to Jamie’s Fund. The time, effort and generosity  put into raising money is hugely appreciated by all at Jamie’s Fund. Every penny takes us a step nearer to the new Mental Health Centre in Kisiizi. Thank you.

I wish you all a peaceful Christmas and a happy and healthy 2015.

Best wishes

Fiona

Mental Health for Sustainable Development

APPGFollowing the recent review on global mental health held at the UK Parliament by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Health and APPG on Mental Health, a new report was launched on 26th November 2014 titled ‘Mental Health for Sustainable Development’.

The review was Chaired by Lord Nigel Crisp and James Morris MP, with an aim to assess why and how the UK should act to help improve mental health in low and middle income countries. In addition to individual written reports and interviews, the review held two oral evidence sessions for parliamentarians to hear from and question leading experts in the field of international development and global mental health. Dr Maureen Wilkinson, who you will know as an Advisor to Jamie’s Fund, attended Parliament and was involved in the evidence sessions.

Three quarters of people with mental health problems live in low and middle income countries and receive little or no evidence-based treatment. This report sets out three important arguments why mental health matters globally and why development activity will not be truly successful without tackling mental health issues and sets out four clear recommendations for ‘doing more’ and ‘doing differently. To view the report please click here.