THE TUMAINIFOUNDATION

PROFILE

THETUMAINIFOUNDATION .COM

About Us

Our Objectives

Our Approach

Mission and Vision

Why Mental Health

Our Projects

Contact Information

Statistics That Matter

CONTENTOUTLINE

ABOUT US

The Tumaini Foundation is a non-profit movement that aims at addressing mental health andaddiction care issues in Uganda and the continent as a whole. Tumaini aims to improve accessto health care services for people suffering from mental disorders and addiction while alsoraising awareness around these issues to reduce and eventually eliminate stigma aroundmental health.

Tumaini also hopes to work closely with the government to improve legislation and policyaround mental health care and addiction in Uganda. The current mental health act in Ugandacame into law in 1964 and has not been amended since! The act is demeaning and does notoffer support to patients suffering from mental health issues. The act also does not cater forpeople suffering from addiction issues and does not recognize them as patients or offertreatment as an option for addicts.

According to research, mental health care is not a priority for the government because it isnot an infectious disease. This means that at the moment, only 1% of the National HealthCare budget is allocated to management of mental health in the country. Due to this, we haveonly one national psychiatric hospital in the country and only a handful of treatment centresthat are a little too expensive for the ordinary citizen to afford.

OUROBJECTIVES 1. Support people likely to develop or with already existing mentalhealth problems, to stay well.

2. Empower people who experience mental health problems andaddiction issues to make informed choices about recovery andtheir lives going forward post recovery.

3.Ensure people get the right services and support at the righttime to help their recovery and enable them to live full andproductive lives with their mental health problem.

4.Open the doors to people with experience of mental healthproblems participating fully in society.

5.Gain equality of treatment for people who experience bothmental health and other forms of discrimination

OURAPPROACH

RAISE AWARENESS FIGHT THE STIGMA IMPROVE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE

MISSION

“HAVING HAD A SPIRITUALAWAKENING, WE CARRIED THE

MESSAGE TO OTHERS STILL SUFFERINGAND TO PRACTISE THESE PRINCIPLES

IN ALL OUR AFFAIRS.” – STEP 12

The Tumaini Foundation is dedicated toimproving the mental health of Ugandans

and African across the continent. Wecampaign to improve medical services,

create awareness and understanding andeliminate stigma.

.

VISION

To create a stigma freegeneration. Encouraging people

with mental illness and addictionrelated illnesses to first of all

acknowledge their problem andseek necessary treatment. We

will not stop until everyone witha mental health problem receives

the necessary support andrespect

.

THE MENTALHEALTH CRISIS

According to the World Health Organization, One in four people will suffer from a mentalhealth or neurological disorder at some point in their lives. That means that about 450 millionpeople worldwide currently suffer from such conditions making mental disorders among theleading causes of ill health and disabilities worldwide.The World Health Organization also found that over 800,000 people die due to suicide eachyear and there are many more that attempt suicide. This means that many millions of peopleare affected or experience suicide bereavement every year. Suicide occurs throughout thelifespan and is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds globally.In Uganda, a new draft mental health policy encompasses many reforms that includeintegration of mental health care into the Primary Health Care Plan.The current mental health legislation which was last updated in 1964, is out dated andderogatory. Mental health care is still severely underfunded with only 1% of the nationalhealth care budget being allocated to mental health and is skewed only towards urban areas.Per 100,000 population, there were 1.83 beds in mental hospitals, 1.4 beds in communitybased psychiatric inpatient units, and 0.42 beds in forensic facilities. The total personnelworking in mental health facilities were 310 (1.13 per 100,000 population). Only 0.8% of themedical doctors and 4% of the nurses had specialized in psychiatry.

CULTURE :THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

Culture has played a major role in creating and fuelling the stigma surrounding mentalhealth. According to several ancient traditions in Uganda, when someone suffering from amental disorder experienced an episode, it was believed that they were experiencing a demonicattack. They also believed that people with mental disorders were a curse or bad omen oncethey are born to a family and many times were tortured, sacrificed or taken far away from thecommunity and left to die. Those that were left alive were outcasts of society. Although not as extreme, these beliefs still exist in Africa and those that are diagnosed withmental disorders are stigmatized.In the recent past, patients have been reported to refuse treatment from trained medicalprofessionals and have opted to seek help from traditional healers for their conditions thatmany still believe are attacks from supernatural powers.Our cultures have visibly shaped our outlook on mental health in Africa and it is for this reasonthat we still find it difficult as a society to openly discuss mental health issues or for peopleliving with the condition to acknowledge it.It is our role as The Tumaini Foundation to dispel the myths surrounding mental health in ourcommunities and to help people understand that there is hope and victims can lead a full andproductive life once they are diagnosed and treated.

1. TUMAINI Treatment Centres

2. TUMAINI Lifeline

3. TUMAINI Work

4. TUMAINI Combat

5. TUMAINI Woman

6. TUMAINI Ingane

PROJECTS

TUMAINITREATMENTCENTRES

In order to address the mental health crisisthat our country is facing, Tumaini hopes toset up outpatient and residential treatment

centres across the country to cater topatients of ill mental health and addiction

issues.TUMAINI hopes to fundraise through friends

and partners to open these treatment centersacross the country

.

THETUMAINILIFELINE

The TUMAINI Foundation intends to launch a suicide helpline. The recent WHO reporton mental health reports Uganda as one of the few countries worldwide that doesnot have a National Suicide Hotline in place to deal with the alarming suicide rates inthe country.Uganda is listed as one of the countries with the highest suicide rates worldwidecoming in at 17th position with a reported 18.67 suicides per 100,000 people. The Tumaini Lifeline hopes to address the suicide issue by offering a toll-freeconfidential suicide hotline available to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.The lifeline will provide crisis counselling and mental health referrals round the clock.

TUMAINIWORK

Tumaini Work is a programme that is aimed atdispelling the myths surrounding Mental Health and

breaking the stigma in the work place.Tumaini Work aims to work with decision makers andemployee support teams to bring mental health care

closer to employees and to improve the general workenvironment to promote positive mental health with in

the work place.Studies have shown that several mental health issues

may be caused or precipitated by negative workenvironment and this affects employee engagement

which has a direct impact on employee output.Our aim is to work with human resource or employee

support teams to create policies within the workenvironment that foster positive mental health within

the work place

TUMAINICOMBAT

Tumaini Combat is a programme that aims to serve and work with men and women inthe army just as they have so diligently served to protect our country. There is agrowing concern of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder within the army and at TUMAINIwe aim to address this issue. We work with the army on ensuring these brave men inuniform receive treatment for PTSD and empower them with the skills to cope on thebattlefield.

TUMAINIINGANE

In order to fight bring the stigma aroundMental Health to an end, we need to start

with the younger generation.Tumaini Ingane is aimed at children and

teenagers of school going age. This programis an easy to understand programme that

helps children learn to identify the signs of apotential mental health issue among their

peers, family and most importantlythemselves. It teaches them that it is okayto seek help and how to deal with someone

close to them living with a mental healthdisorder. The program is carried out partner

schools across the country through talks andforums through which children can engage

with experts in the field to learn aboutmental health

TUMAINIWOMAN

Tumaini Woman is a mental health wellness program designed for the everyday woman.Statistics have shown that women are twice as more likely to suffer from a mental healthdisorder. This program offers a platform for women to address issues that might have anegative impact on their mental wellbeing since research has shown that environmentalfactors have contributed to negative mental health over the past few decades. TUMAINIWoman also hopes to address issues related to postnatal depression among new mothers,a condition that is largely ignored by our health care system and society as a whole. Theprogramme aims to give women skills to identify, cope and address these issues in theirown lives and for their loved ones.

THE GIRLSLOVE SERIES TUMAINI WOMAN

The Girls Love Series is an initiative under TUMAINI Woman. It is a series of eventsthrough which young women meet and discuss issues affecting them in theireveryday lives that may have a negative impact on their mental health. At these veryinteractive and engaging Girls Love events, we equip them with techniques to helpthem cope with their ever demanding lives and busy schedules through activities likeyoga & Pilates, group therapy session, Tips on Nutrition and self care and theimportance of spirituality in maintaining positive mental health. The events aresupported and facilitated by experts in these different fields.

The Tumaini team is part of a generation that

believes in the deep commitment to change

eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health on

the continent in which everyone has access to

mental health services. Led by our Founder and

Executive Director Liz Kakooza, our mission and

work is rooted in this generation’s ownership of

this challenge and our willingness to go above and

beyond our call of duty.

The Tumaini Foundation is privileged to have an

amazing, energetic and tech savvy team of

volunteers that work to #ChangeTheConversation

OURPEOPLE

LIZ KAKOOZAFOUNDER 

FUNDING

The Tumaini Foundation is fundedby the generous contributions ofour friends and partners that are

willing to give their money and theirtime to achieve our objectives.

To donate, please visit our websitethetumainifoundation.com

450Million people worldwide suffer from a mental healthdisorder

1 in 4 people will bediagnosed with amental health problemat some point duringtheir lifetime

1964 The year in which thecurrent mental healthplan was enacted

Only one National Psychiatrichospital in Uganda handlingabout 5000 cases every year.

1%

Only 1% of theNational Health Carebudget is allocated toMental Health

CONTACTINFORMATION

+256794427627

@thetumainifoundation

@TumainiFDN

thetumainifoundation.com