The armed conflicts raging in the Lake Chad basin destroy individual resistance and the well-being of populations, impacting their socio-economic development. Faced with these situations, families are forced to leave their living and production spaces, leaving behind their vital means of economic subsistence, to go to places where security remains relative.

Psychiatry detects signs of mental disorders, psychoses, depression or even traumatic neuroses in these psychologically impacted people. In this context, the social function of therapists (traditional healers, psychologists, etc.) is more than ever valued by the place given to speech and the relief of suffering. However, psychiatric and psychosocial services are still very inaccessible in this region where psychiatry often rhymes with madness.

The conference "Mental Health in the Lake Chad Basin: challenges and synergies between local actors, the health system and the international community", offers a framework for discussion around the response in mental health and psychosocial support of the RESILAC project, as well as findings the “psychosocial care in the Lake Chad basin” study carried out by Groupe URD, focusing on the availability of care and the endogenous mechanisms of psychosocial care in this region.

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