BasicNeeds is in the process of setting up a programme in Colombia.

There are approximately 1,000 Psychiatrists in Colombia for its 41 million population. This figure is far higher than many other developing countries.

However, the mental health system is not effective because half of these psychiatrists live in Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and 75% of them are in private practice.

This means that mental health treatment is very difficult to access.

This is a particular problem because Colombia has a large amount of mental health problems due to the many years of civil war and the high level of violent crime linked to the drugs trade. For people affected by these issues, the violence has caused many mental health problems.

In Colombia there are between 2 to 3 million internally displaced people as the result of Guerrilla war. This is second in the world only to Sudan.

Internally displaced people flee to the relative safety of the city slums. Here they have to live in deplorable conditions and struggle to survive on the knife edge of poverty.

Homicides are 8 times higher than the rest of the world.

Violence makes up approximately 18 to 28 more times the proportion of disability in Colombia compared to the rest of the world.

Approximately 40% of the population of Colombia (16.4 million people) have had a mental illness at some point in their lives. 10% of the population have suffered depression in the last year, compared to only 4-5% for the rest of the world.

Violence can affect mental health by removing trust in people, ones identity and meaning in their world. Being internally displaced as a result of violence can mean that independence and culture can be lost and social isolation can ensue. These issues can translate into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, psychosomatic disorders, affective disorders, anxiety disorders, suicide and alcohol abuse.

Over the last two years BasicNeeds has implemented a pilot programme in Usaquen, an expansive district in the north of the city of Bogota, Colombia. As a resulted it has come to light a large number of children are at risk of mental health problems and this is a leading issue which the programme is beginning to address through awareness training within local schools. BasicNeeds has trained over 120 people each of its four training programmes. Participants included professional health staff, teachers and related educational and health workers.

If you would like more information about our work with mentally ill people in Colombia, please email the programme here