PDO Launches the First Ever Mental Health Mobile App in Africa

Psychiatric Disability Organization, a community led organization in Nakuru, has joined forces with TrustCircle of the USA to offer a mobile App that allows mental health users to access psychiatry services or psychological support securely and anonymously, from a rich community of local and global health providers, peers and caregivers. PDO Founder/CEO Iregi Mwenja said, “This is the proudest moment of my life. Finally psychological support and psychiatry services accessible to all"

Nakuru, Kenya, August 31, 2016 --(PR.com)-- Psychiatric Disability Organization, a small community led organization in Nakuru, has joined forces with TrustCircle of the USA to offer a mobile App that allows mental health users to access psychiatry services or psychological support securely and anonymously, from a rich community of local and global health providers, peers and caregivers.

PDO Founder/CEO Iregi Mwenja said, “This is the proudest moment of my life. Finally psychological support and psychiatry services will no longer be a preserve for the rich; instead, we are placing it on the palms of Kenyans who need it.”

Kenya has 88 psychiatrists, most of them based in Nairobi. The psychiatrist to citizen ratio is 1:5,000,000 in rural areas, which poorly compares to the internationally accepted ratio of 1:10,000.

The Ministry of Health while launching the Kenya Mental Health Policy 2015-2030 stated that one in every four Kenyans will suffer from a mental disorder in their lifetime. The policy states that up to 25% of outpatients and up to 40% of in-patients in health facilities suffer from mental conditions.

Surprisingly, the same government allocates only 0.1% of its health budget to mental health, creating an unnerving statistics in treatment gap. The World Health Organization puts this gap at 76–85% in the less-developed countries.

TrustCircle Founder/CEO Sachin Chaudhry said, “TrustCircle empowers patients, caregivers, and healthcare providers with mobile health solutions to improve communication, collaboration, and coordination of care. TrustCircle leverages technology innovations that enable healthcare and community support organizations such as PDO to scale their impact and improve quality of healthcare.”

PDO and TrustCircle are purpose driven organizations and complement each other’s efforts. “We at TrustCircle are proud to partner with PDO and looking forward to create ripples of hope together. I truly believe that our partnership along with support from government of Kenya will set a model that can scale this effort not only in entire Kenya but also in other countries in Africa,” added Sachin.

In the next 3 years, PDO is planning to make this mobile App available to all the 12 million Kenyans who will develop a mental disorder in their lifetime. The App will also be a game changer in the interaction between health providers and their patients as they will be able to interact remotely without the need to regularly travel to the hospital.

To get more information about TrustCircle mHealth mobile App, or to book an interview, contact Iregi Mwenja on 0723713642 or email, pdokenya@gmail.com, @pdokenya or visit our website at: http://www.pdokenya.org and Sachin Chaudhry email – Sachin@trustcircle.co , website – www.trustcircle.co @trustcircle
Contact
Psychiatric Disability Organization
Iregi Mwenja
+254723713642
www.pdokenya.org
iregim@gmail.com
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