Webinar on Africa and COVID-19: Stopping the Spread and the Panic

CONCEPT NOTE:  Webinar in Response to Recent Developments in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa

TITLE: ​Coronavirus in Africa: Stopping the Spread and the Panic with Lessons Learned from the Ebola Epidemic

DATE: ​Thursday, 9 April 2020
TIME:​ 11:00AM – 12:00PM EST MODALITY:​ Zoom; ​LINK:​ ​bit.ly/UACWebinar

Organized by: ​The United African Congress, the International Association of Applied Psychology, and the Psychology Coalition at the United Nations (PCUN)

PURPOSE: ​Africa had been given a few weeks before the deadly coronavirus that hit countries around the world invaded the continent. Now, the threat of the pandemic infecting the continent of Africa is a reality, with the number of countries affected growing by the day. The dangers are clear, given at-risk conditions, including fragile health infrastructures, widespread poverty, limited financial resources, and absence of national social welfare safety nets such as those existing in industrialized countries. Heightened alert and immediate action is therefore urgent.

This webinar responds to this drastic situation. Panelists will address the physical and mental health, economic, as well as social impacts of the infection in Africa. In particular, they will focus on the alert and action required on the part of all multistakeholders on the continent, and call on the broader international community ​to intervene to provide resources and work together with the African Union (AU) to establish best-practice procedures to stave off a rampant pandemic escalating out of control.

This event will mark the first in a series of informative webinars structured around the overarching theme of “The Coronavirus Crisis in Africa: Stopping the Spread and the Panic.” More information on subsequent programming will be provided soon.

POLICY: ​The importance of combating this pandemic is underscored by efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in particular, SDG 3 about the promotion of healthy living and wellbeing for all, with the concomitant target 3.4 regarding mental health and wellbeing. The panel also addresses SDG 4 for inclusive and equitable education, especially public education, while respecting cultural factors. In addition, SDG 17 calls for multi-stakeholder partnership, as is happening in the USA with assistance from the private sector. The approach to COVID-19 also addresses the goals of the Political Declaration of Universal Health Coverage, that calls for health and mental health access for all, essentially important in this crisis, as the most vulnerable persons have less access to such care. Further, the Global Compact for Migration calls for health care for this population that is at increased risk for contracting the infection.

The panel will address the current crisis by drawing upon lessons from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa—touching upon topics around mitigation, capacity-building, policy, and successful programming—and by discussing why given Africa’s resource limitation, infrastructural underdevelopment, and cultural barriers to social distancing, may present unique challenges.The President of the United African Congress Mr. Gordon Tapper previously moderated a panel related to the Ebola epidemic titled, “Harlem to Congo,” and will moderate this panel. Other panel speakers represent various sectors, from government, UN agencies, civil society and media, thereby reflecting the multi-stakeholder partnership of SDG17. The panel will employ a holistic perspective, presenting not only the medical, but also the psychological issues evident in this outbreak. This approach is consistent with the policies mentioned above, considering mental health is integral to physical health.

BACKGROUND:​ The United African Congress sounded an early alarm regarding the spread of the coronavirus to Africa on 6 February at an event at the United Nations on the occasion of World Interfaith Harmony Week. Partnering with the Mission of Ethiopia to the UN, the panel of faith leaders and experts of various disciplines addressed solutions to serious issues plaguing humanity, from climate change, widespread violence, religious and racial intolerance, to the health epidemic of coronavirus. UAC Trustee and well-known psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky amplified this alarm in her column on 3 March in ​Black Star News​ titled, “​Sounding the Alarm about Coronavirus in Africa​.”

The coronavirus may be “novel” only in name, because the disease raises familiar challenges underlying other epidemics, such as SARS, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola. Similar issues are raised, involving mitigation and treatment, and the need for action in the face of such a medical crisis. Panelists on the webinar are very familiar with these past epidemics, advocating about health and organizing valuable programming. For example, in August 2014, the UAC and partners hosted the first forum at the United Nations on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including participation from the ambassadors of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, medical experts in the field, a Nobel Prize nominee for Medicine, and expatriate organizations from the three affected countries.

Additionally, Dr. Kuriansky provided psychosocial support during the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003, and during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone in 2014. Resources of lessons learned from Ebola can be found in the links below.

Recently, on 21 March, Dr. Kuriansky, along with Columbia University Teachers College graduate students, and local mental health professionals, held a webinar for people in China coping with the emotional sequelae of the outbreak. The webinar entailed an overview of the post-epidemic situation, including psychological research and advice (especially for children and for students returning to China), results of a domestic population psychological status survey, and grief counseling for those suffering from loss.

SUMMARY OVERVIEW: ​As media coverage became inundated with cases of the coronavirus sweeping across Asia, Europe, and North America, a narrative emerged that Africa was thought to have evaded the fatal virus. This was not the case. As of late, there are several thousand confirmed cases of the virus on the continent, with the number of affected countries growing day by day. Given the fragile health systems in these countries and prevalence of at-risk conditions, World Health Organization (WHO) officials have urged African leaders to respond with vigor, and to strengthen efforts to contain the disease before it overwhelms communities. At a ​media briefing ​on 18 March, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus strongly advised leaders to "wake up" to the increasing threat, remarking that, "The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today.”

These recent developments highlight several key touchpoints; namely, the importance of early action from governments, the indispensable value of cooperation from all sectors, and solidarity among communities for preventive behavior. African countries have an opportunity (noted as a “head start”) to combat COVID-19 before it spirals out of control. They can apply models from other nations who have successfully managed to control the spread of the virus, like South Korea and Singapore. Some measures include increasing testing, stocking hospital supplies, ensuring health worker personnel safety, limiting public gatherings, increasing awareness of hygiene and sanitation strategies, providing provisions for families and business, and shutting down schools and non-essential establishments. On the other hand, ​given the resource limitation and infrastructural underdevelopment in many African countries, it is vital that the WHO and AU also make an effort to explore alternative measures that are more equitable in nature. For instance, collaboration with a country like Cuba which has a track record of fighting pandemics and whose infrastructural capacities better mirror those of African countries would be a potential option.

Furthermore, in many African countries, as elsewhere, challenges to such solutions include the difficulties of physical distancing in densely-populated communities, the dynamics of confinement in multigenerational households, and limited access to basic necessities, such as food and water, especially in rural and non-urban areas. The continent’s exceedingly young population may also necessitate stronger guidance from leaders, emphasizing that all people—not just older individuals—are vulnerable to the illness.

The migration of the coronavirus to Africa is a sober reminder that disease does not discriminate—it has no regard for nationality, race, class, age, or geographic boundaries.. Thus, meeting the threat of the coronavirus will demand great responsibility from society as a whole, and a shifting of perspective to the commonality of needs for all people facing crisis. This global public health emergency demands multilateral cooperation among nations, collective responsibility among individuals, and in the words of Director-General Dr. Tedros, an insurmountable “spirit of solidarity” from everyone involved.

Resource links about psychosocial resilience from the Ebola epidemic and other materials pertinent to the COVID-19 pandemic:
Book: ​The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Enola has Taught Us about Holistic Healing​, with extensive policy feedback, program recommendations, and models.

Reference Articles:
● ​“I am African, I Am Not a Virus” ​(Blog for World Humanitarian Summit on E-International Relations​)

● “How a New York Psychologist and an Israeli Humanitarian Organization Are

Helping Sierra Leone Stand Up to Ebola” ​(Article and Interview by Ben Cohen on ​The Algemeiner)​

Videos:

• ●  Ebola, Theme song: “Hope Is Alive” Music Video​ (2019 April 1, YouTube)

• ●  Ebola: Voices from the Field ​(2018 February 6, YouTube)

• ●  Ebola: Psychosocial Issues During and After the Epidemic​ (2016 February 2,

  YouTube)

● Ebola in Sierra Leone: Burial Team Workshop Led by Dr. Judy Kuriansky​ (2015 August 21, YouTube)

Guidelines around COVID-19 from the WHO and UNICEF:

● https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-p ublic​ ​(2020 March 18, WHO)

● https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/covid-19​ (2020 March 25, UNICEF)

Program:

Coronavirus in Africa Stopping the Spread and the Panic with lessons learned from the Ebola epidemic

Moderator/welcoming remarks

Honored address: Moving from Readiness to Response: How the African Diaspora Can Help

The Coronavirus from the perspective of governments

Panelists/speakers:

Overview of UAC involvement/commitment in the current crisis and lessons learned from Ebola

Perspectives of psycho-social support and lessons learned from other Infectious diseases and disasters

Perspectives from DRC: On the Ground in Africa comparisons of Coronavirus and Ebola

Implications for Universal Health Coverage and lessons learned from other infectious diseases

Overview of the Coronavirus pandemic from the perspective of the media

Gordon Tapper

President, United African Congress

H.E. Sidique Wai

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Republic of Sierra Leone to the United States of America

H.E. Ambassador Taye Atske Selassie Amde

Permanent Representative, Ethiopia to the United Nations

Dr. the Honorable Christopher Tufton

Minister of Health and Wellness, Jamaica, W.I.

Tarek Ben Yousef

Chargé d’Affaires, African Union Mission to the United States of America

Dr. Mohammed Nurhussein National Chairman of the United African Congress (UAC)

Dr. Judy Kuriansky, United Nations NGO representative, IAAP; Professor, Dept. of Counseling and Clinical Psychology Columbia University Teachers College; Trustee, United African Congress;

Katson Maliro, Editorial Secretary, Radio Victoire Horizon

Tamar Tcheliedze, MD, MPH, Public Health Specialist, Senior Policy Fellow, University of California-Berkeley

Milton Allimadi, Publisher, Black Star News

Thursday, April 9, 2020 | 11 AM – 12 PM EST | Modality: Zoom (BIT.LY/UACWEBINAR)

Organizers: United African Congress,
IAAP - the international AssociatiOn of Applied Psychology
with support of the Psychology Coalition of Ngos accredited at the UN

Webinar by United African Congress on Africa and COVID-10: Human Rights: Racism and Discrimination and Stigma: Dr Judy speaks on panel of experts

CONCEPT PAPER:   COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN AFRICA: Stopping the Spread and the Panic

United African Congress announces second in webinar series about COVID-19 in Africa. April 30 webinar to address: Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Human Rights Violations in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Times of natural disasters and worldwide crises, such as is happening now with the current COVID-19 pandemic, can bring out the best in humanity. Indeed, it is being shown that people around the world are coming together to help one another. Countless stories of caring and sharing abound as testimony to our common humanity.Neighbors come to the aid of neighbors and strangers help others they never knew, in prevalent heroic and selfless acts of human kindness, bringing food, doing errands for the sick and the elderly living alone. Frontline health workers and those providing essential services put in endless hours and devotion to keep others safe and healthy.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organization, makes that point, saying, “We have to think that we have to work together as a human species to be organized to care for one another, to realize that the health of the most vulnerable people among us is a determining factor for the health of all of us, and, if we aren’t prepared to do that, we’ll never, ever be prepared to confront these devastating challenges to our humanity.”

Yet, such cataclysmic events sadly can also bring out negative behaviors and attitudes. Such a reaction that is particularly disturbing is the scapegoating of a particular group of people based on race, ethnicity, religion, or any other group characteristics. Public health emergencies in particular can trigger targeting specific groups of people based on no scientific evidence. Examples include the stigmatization of Haitians in the United States in the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, of Africans during the Ebola epidemic of 2014-2016, and of East Asians during this current pandemic.

Such stigmatization and discrimination cannot be tolerated.  It is apparent to all by now that COVID-19, the novel coronavirus which has touched practically every corner of our planet, knows no borders, does not discriminate, and affects any peoples. Pathogenic microorganisms have no country, race or ethnicity. The saying that “We are all in this together” should not be a hollow slogan but a call to collective action in solidarity to combat this common scourge.

The current pandemic continues its relentless killing spree across the globe, claiming tens of thousands of innocent lives, destroying individual livelihoods and the economies of many nations.  People of all backgrounds are affected, from workers to CEOs and world leaders.  Yet, some groups are particularly vulnerable and targeted.  These include migrant workers, particularly who are African, who have become prey to victimization by others in countries around the globe.

Destructive racism and xenophobia are manifesting in countries as divergent as China, Italy and the Middle East. The media has revealed video footage of Africans, in Guangzhou, China, being locked in their apartments, or worse, forcibly evicted from their homes and hotels, and forcibly quarantined. Restaurants have displayed signs that Blacks are not allowed entry. This was in one case triggerdy the fact that five Nigerians tested positive for the Coronavirus. China has since apologized in response to protests from Africans in the Diaspora as well as some countries in Africa.

While these discriminatory acts may be borne of fear of the unknown, or amplified by fears and ignorance, or by reports of cases, there are no excuses for the cruel treatment, blaming, ostracizing, and abusing others. 

In recognition of this imperative to be kind to others, and to refute and refuse the opposite, that of racism, xenophobia and discrimination, the United African Congress is hosting their next webinar on this topic, in the series about COVID-19 in AFRICA. Our upcoming webinar is scheduled for 30 April. We will explore the status of the corona pandemic in Africa and in the Caribbean, and ways to mitigate the resulting present health and economic catastrophe and move forward for a better world. Speakers include representatives from media, government, human rights, media and public health advocates.

Webinar by United African Congress on Africa and COVID-10: Reports from journalists on the ground in Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa: As Expert Panelists Dr Judy asks about mental health

CONCEPT NOTE: 

Webinar  in Response to Recent Developments in the COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa

TITLE: Coronavirus in Africa: Stopping the Spread and the Panic with Lessons Learned from the Ebola Epidemic

DATE: Thursday, 9 April 2020

TIME: 11:00AM – 12:00PM EST

MODALITY: Zoom; LINK: https://bit.ly/UnitedAfricanCongress 

Organized by: The United African Congress and The International Association of Applied Psychology

PURPOSE: Africa had been given a few weeks before the deadly coronavirus that hit countries around the world invaded the continent. Now, the threat of the pandemic infecting the continent of Africa is a reality, with 34 countries reporting cases of coronavirus as of 20 March, reflecting a dramatic increase over a month. The dangers are clear, given at-risk conditions, including  fragile health infrastructures, close living quarters, crowded transportation, limited healthforce capacity and supplies, widespread poverty, and limited financial resources.  Heightened alert and immediate action is therefore urgent. 

This webinar responds to this drastic situation. Panelists address the health and mental health, economic and social impacts of the infection in Africa, and focus on the alert and action required on the part of all multistakeholders on the continent and call on the broader international community to intervene to provide resources and establish procedures in Africa to stave off a rampant pandemic escalating out of control.

POLICY: The importance of combating this pandemic is underscored by efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); in particular, SDG 3 about the promotion of healthy living and wellbeing for all, with the concomitant target 3.4 regarding mental health and wellbeing. The  panel also addresses SDG 4 for inclusive and equitable education, especially public education, while respecting cultural factors. In addition, SDG 17 calls for multi-stakeholder partnership, as is happening in the USA with assistance from the private sector.  The approach to COVID-19 also addresses the goals of the Political Declaration of Universal Health Coverage, that calls for health and mental health access for all,essentially important in this ciris, as the most vulnerable persons have less access to such care.  Further, the Global Compact for Migration calls for health care for this population that is at increased risk for contracting the infection.

The panel will address the current crisis by drawing upon lessons from the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, touching upon topics around mitigation, capacity-building, policy, and successful programming.  The President of the United African Congress Mr. Gordon Tapper previously moderated a panel related to the Ebola epidemic titled, “Harlem to Congo,” and will moderate this panel. Other panel speakers represent various sectors, from government, UN agencies, civil society and media, thereby reflecting the multi-stakeholder partnership of SDG17. The panel will employ a holistic perspective,  presenting not only the medical, but also the psychological issues evident in this outbreak. This approach is consistent with the policies mentioned above, considering mental health is integral to physical health.

BACKGROUND: The United African Congress sounded an early alarm regarding the spread of the coronavirus to Africa on 6 February at an event at the United Nations on the occasion of World Interfaith Harmony Week. Partnering with the Mission of Jamaica to the UN, the panel of faith leaders  and experts of various disciplines   addressed solutions to serious issues plaguing humanity, from climate change, widespread violence, religious and racial intolerance, to the health epidemic of coronavirus.  . UAC Trustee and well-known psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky amplified this alarm in her column on 3 March in Black Star News titled, “Sounding the Alarm about Coronavirus in Africa.”

 The coronavirus may be  “novel”  only in name, because the disease raises familiar challenges underlying other epidemics, such as SARS, HIV/AIDS and Ebola. Similar issues are raised, involving mitigation and treatment, and the need for action in the face of such a medical crisis. Panelists on the webinar are  very familiar with these past epidemics, advocating about health and organizing   valuable programming.. For example, in August 2014, the UAC and partners hosted the first forum at the United Nations on the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including participation from the ambassadors of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, medical experts in the field, a Nobel Prize nominee for Medicine, and expatriate organizations from the three affected countries.

Additionally, Dr. Kuriansky provided psychosocial support during the SARS outbreak in Hong Kong in 2003, and during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone in 2014. Resources of lessons learned from Ebola can be found in the links below.

Recently, on 21 March, Dr. Kuriansky, along with Columbia University Teachers College graduate students, and local mental health professionals, held  a webinar for people in China to cope with the emotional sequelae of the outbreak, with .   an overview of the post-epidemic situation, psychological research and advice, especially for children and for students returning to China, results of a domestic population psychological status survey , and grief counseling for those suffering from loss.

SUMMARY OVERVIEW: As media coverage became inundated with cases of the coronavirus sweeping across Asia, Europe, and North America, a narrative emerged that Africa was thought to have evaded the fatal virus. As of 25 March, there are over 2,400 cases across 43  nations on the continent. Given the fragile health systems in these countries and prevalence of at-risk conditions,  World Health Organization (WHO) officials  urge African leaders to respond with vigor, and to strengthen efforts to contain the disease before it overwhelms communities. At a media briefing on 18 March, WHO General-Director Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus strongly advised leaders to "wake up" to the increasing threat, remarking that, "The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today.”

These recent developments highlight several key touchpoints; namely, the importance of early action from governments, the indispensable value of cooperation from all sectors, and solidarity among communities for preventive behavior.  African countries have an opportunity (noted as a “head start”) to combat COVID-19 before it spirals out of control. They can apply  models from other nations who have successfully managed to control the spread of the virus, like South Korea and Singapore. Some measures include increasing testing, stocking hospital supplies, ensuring health worker personnel safety, limiting public gatherings, increasing awareness of hygiene and sanitation strategies, providing provisions for families and business, and shutting down schools and non-essential establishments.

However, in Africa as in other countries, challenges include the difficulties of physical distancing in densely-populated communities, the dynamics of confinement in multigenerational households, and limited access to basic necessities, such as food and water, especially in rural and non-urban areas. The continent’s exceedingly young population may also necessitate stronger guidance from leaders, emphasizing that all people—not just older individuals—are vulnerable to the illness.

The migration of the coronavirus to Africa is  a sober reminder that disease does not discriminate—it has no regard for nationality, race, class, age, or geographic boundaries.. Thus, meeting the threat of the coronavirus will demand great responsibility from society as a whole, and a shifting of perspective to the commonality of needs for all people facing crisis. This global public health emergency demands multilateral cooperation among nations, collective responsibility among individuals, and in the words of General-Director Dr. Tedros, an insurmountable “spirit of solidarity” from everyone involved.

Resource links about psychosocial resilience from the Ebola epidemic:

Book: The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Enola has Taught Us about Holistic Healing, with extensive policy feedback, program recommendations, and models.

Other references of Dr. Kuriansky’s work are included below:

Articles:

●       “I am African, I Am Not a Virus” (Blog for World Humanitarian Summit on E-International Relations)

●      “How a New York Psychologist and an Israeli Humanitarian Organization Are Helping Sierra Leone Stand Up to Ebola” (Article and Interview by Ben Cohen on The Algemeiner)

Videos:

●      Ebola, Theme song:  “Hope Is Alive” Music Video (2019 April 1, YouTube)

●      Ebola: Voices from the Field (2018 February 6, YouTube)

●      Ebola: Psychosocial Issues During and After the Epidemic (2016 February 2, YouTube)

●      Ebola in Sierra Leone: Burial Team Workshop Led by Dr. Judy Kuriansky (2015 August 21, YouTube)

United Nations webcasts:

"Achieving Poverty Eradication by Sustainable Health, Well-being and Education: The Case of Ebola in West Africa and other Epidemics and Disasters Worldwide (30 January 2018).  Access at: https://bit.ly/2K1MbjS

* Promoting youth mental health and wellbeing as a strategy for social integration and poverty eradication: Voices from the Field (7 February 2017) includes Hope and Health Vision, DRC.  Access at: https://bit.ly/2YxA1Gs

UN Report

Otto, J. & Kuriansky, J. (2018). Report of a Side Event at UN Headquarters in New York in the margins of the 56th Commission for Social Development, 30 January 2018: “Achieving Poverty Eradication by Sustainable Health, Well-being and Education: The Case of Ebola in West Africa and other Epidemics and Disasters Worldwide”. Access at: https://bit.ly/324KI1A 

Sounding the Alarm about Coronavirus in Africa by Diaspora Group

Dr. Judy speaking out to sound the alarm about the impending coronavirus crisis in Africa at the United Nations before anyone else wrote about the spread to the continent

“The time is now to sound a really loud alarm about the potential Coronavirus spread in Africa,” warns Dr. Mohammed Nurhussein, Chair of the United African Congress (UAC).

“I don’t want to spread panic, but the threat is very real,” he added.

For weeks since the outbreak last December, no cases were reported in Africa. But as of this past Sunday, March 1^st, three countries in Africa – Egypt, Algeria and Nigeria  -- have confirmed cases of the novel COVID-19. While this number currently pales in comparison to the more than 7,000 out the 87,000 reported cases detected in about 60 countries outside mainland China where the outbreak began, Africa is at serious risk.

Africa’s first COVID-19 case was reported in Egypt in early February. On February 17^th, an Italian adult tested positive on arrival in Algeria. Ten days later, on February 28th, another Italian man was confirmed positive after traveling on Turkish Airlines from Milan to Nigeria, and going through the densely-packed megacity of Lagos. The man had come into contact with many fellow factory workers and was taken to hospital in an ambulance not designated for coronavirus emergencies.

Egypt, Algeria and South Africa have been identified as the African countries at highest risk for imported cases of COVID-19, according to research released on February 21 based on air travel volume. Countries named at moderate risk were Nigeria, Ethiopia, Sudan, Angola, Tanzania, Ghana and Kenya.

 13 African countries were prioritized by the WHO in mid-February, reported in the influential medical journal, Lancet. These are Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Recognizing the threat to Africa early on, the United African Congress took action, following its mandate as a Pan African non-profit organization to represent the interests of the African diaspora and friends, regarding health, culture and education.

Seizing the opportunity of the summit meeting of African Heads of State in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 9-10, the UAC wrote to the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, H.E. Mr. Moussa Faki Mahamat, sounding the alarm and requesting that the threat of the COVID-19 be placed on the agenda as a matter of utmost urgency.

 The letter also recommended a unified continental approach to prevent the disease from spreading in Africa.

 “I knew right away that Covid-19 could spread like wildfire in Africa,” Nurhusssein continued.  The Ethiopian-born doctor is a Professor Emeritus of Medicine at Downstate Medical Center in New York City.  

A specialist in geriatrics, he also feared that older people would be most vulnerable.

Other vulnerabilities include the pervasive fragile health system infrastructure of African nations, with inadequate resources, supplies, funding, and trained health workers.  Add to that, fluid borders, government corruption, and increasing connections through trade, business and investment, with China and other countries of the world now infected. 

Africans are also increasingly visiting China and other countries for business and study, increasing the possibility of bringing the infection home. Ethiopian Airlines, Africa's largest carrier, has expanding routes and business, especially since joining Star Alliance Network.

Adding fuel to the fire is insecurity in some African regions, with armed conflict raging in varied regions, notably the Democratic Republic of the Congo already struggling with the Ebola outbreak.  

Additionally, work crosses borders. About 2 million Chinese live and work on the African continent. Since many workers went home to China for the Spring holiday -- when the outbreak occurred -- Nurhussein worries about the spread of the infection when Chinese construction workers involved in the expansive building projects throughout Africa travel back from China to their jobs.

 Nurhussein and colleagues made other early efforts to sound the alarm about the potential viral spread to Africa.

An op-ed was submitted to the New York Times.  “Curiously, an article by their reporters appeared right afterwards,” he said, adding, “One can draw conclusions from where they got the idea.”

 Other media outlets started to report more on the situation in Africa.

 Since UAC’s early efforts, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a  “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”-- highlighting the risks and need for a coordinated international response – and within a month, on the same day that the case was identified in Nigeria and within the week that in the total number of countries with confirmed cases jumped from 26 to 58, increased its Covid-19 risk assessment to “very high” at the global level.

 “It’s time now to go one step further and declare a pandemic,” says Nurhussein.

 Disagreement looms over that label. On one hand, leading expert on coronavirus, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said yesterday the disease now at "outbreak" is of "likely pandemic proportions."

WHO admits that potential if the spread doesn’t slow, but remains hesitant. So, too, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar -- called the coronavirus “czar” – who says the number of cases is not now equal to other diseases that are called a pandemic.

Philanthropist Bill Gates has no such caution, calling the outbreak a “once-in-a-century pandemic” in a New England Journal of Medicine article, (insert hyperlink: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2003762

likened to the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic (colloquially called the Spanish flu) which killed about 50 million people worldwide.

 “National, state, and local governments and public health agencies can take steps over the next few weeks to slow the virus’s spread,” Gates wrote in an opinion piece for the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM, Feb 28).  In addition to helping their own citizens’ respond, Gates called on donor governments to help low-and middle-income countries prepare for the pandemic.

 The few numbers of cases reported now in Africa could be misleading, claims Nurhussein. Infections could go undetected, despite the fact that 29 African nations can do Covid-19 testing, according to WHO Africa, and despite preventive measures like more airport screenings, canceled flights, arrival checks and quarantines, and suspended visas.

 “Danger lurks,” he says. 

 Some factors rumored to protect Africa are specious. Warmer and more humid weather, as in Africa, does not ensure that the infection disappears, as not enough is known about this strain of coronavirus.

 Rumors of a genetically-higher immune system in Africans have been debunked. 

Claims that contagion is mitigated by Africans spending more time outdoors and not living in densely populated communities, is also suspect, says Nurhussein. To the contrary, large African families live in crowded quarters, shop in overcrowded marketplaces, exchange wares, and use little protection, even tissues.

A month ago, at the time when no Coronavirus cases were reported in Africa -- nor in the US or South America -- Nurhussein raised awareness about the virus at an event at the United Nations headquarters in New York City (Insert HYPERLINK to my previous article). The event, held on February 6th in a large UN conference hall with hundreds of attendees, to honor World Interfaith Harmony Week, featured spiritual leaders from varied faiths offering solutions to current challenges of climate change, religious and racial conflict, pervasive violence, and widespread disease like the epidemics of Ebola and the emerging Coronavirus.

Nurhussein pointed out the UAC’s forewarning track record, evident in hosting major awareness-raising events early in 2014 about the Ebola epidemic, when others were leery to confront the crisis. Speakers at the events included Ambassadors of the three most-affected African countries, the Ambassador of the United States to the UN, then-Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and various celebrities.

While the viruses are different- Ebola is contracted by direct contact with body fluids of those infected, and COVID-19 by more common contact-- all epidemics, including HIV/AIDS and SARS, all have some similarities in approaches to prevention, treatment, detection, and education.

Health officials are now looking to lessons from Ebola in Africa to apply to COVID-19.  For example, Nigeria staved off infection by the government’s early use of social media messaging to educate the public. 

Many such public health education campaigns are reported in my book, The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Disease: What Ebola has taught us about Holistic Healing,” documenting lessons from my mission to Sierra Leone during the outbreak, projects in Hong Kong during SARS, and efforts about HIV/AIDs, providing psychosocial advice and support to dispel fears and stigma.

In response to outbreaks of the virus in the US, President Trump and CDC experts insist Americans are at low risk, and can remain confident and calm with the “best health system in the world” looking out for them. 

“Africans do not have the luxury of good health systems,” Nurhussein points out. A member of the Ethio-American Doctors Group, Nurhussein and fellow doctors in the USA and around the world, raised millions of personal money to start building a comprehensive state-of-the-art hospital center in Addis, Ababa, Ethiopia, for which ground has been broken. 

Other health projects are in process in Africa, but in early stages. Plans for a comprehensive medical facility in Sierra Leone and for the extended Mano River Union were presented by the First Lady of Sierra Leone Mde. Fatima Maada Bio at an event during  the United Nations General Assembly –when world governments gather to present their policy and programs -- this past September. (insert hyperlink of my report in BSN)

Pundits and experts emphasize there is no need to panic, but tempers are inevitable rising given the spread of cases worldwide and economic fallout, evident in plunging stock markets.

Psychologists have to come to the rescue, advises Nurhussein, to help people cope with the severe emotional impact. Little has yet been said in mass media about the psychological implications of the epidemic, nor professional advice offered. 

At the UN event, I did just that, pointing out, and offering advise about, emotional suffering. My 4 S’s: combat shame, silence, and stigma, and offer psychosocial support.

One of my Chinese graduate students in my class at Columbia University Teachers College, Jiawen Long, described her own, and fellow Chinese students’ reactions, of crying, fears, sleeplessness, and worries for family. 

In response, UAC:

 * Calls for extensive and intensive public awareness and education campaigns, especially as cases of community-spread infection increase, to model the success of social media campaigns like that in Nigeria that prevented the spread of Ebola in 2014.   

* Urges outreach to support African students abroad in the many affected countries. About 4,600 African students are in Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic (insert hyperlink Quartz Africa February 18).

* Acknowledges and supports of efforts by WHO, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros, and the WHO regional Africa office, working in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to prepare African countries for the potential spread of the virus to Africa.

* Applauds and supports the Africa Taskforce for Coronavirus (AFCOR), established by Africa CDC to share information and best practices, build technical capacity, support policies, and coordinate border control. This is analogous to the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) set up during the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

* Urges the United Nations to convene similar briefings and funding pledge conferences at UN headquarters in New York City as were held during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.  

* Calls for all parties, especially the private sector, to contribute funding, building on the US$15 million released from the UN’s Central Emergency Fund, to help finance global efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, particularly in vulnerable countries with weak health care systems. Bill and Melinda Gates have committed to donate up to US$100 million to kickstart a global response to the health crisis.

* Urges the international community and private sector to bolster the Africa CDC, the Nigeria CDC and the Ethiopia Pubic Health Institute and similar health bodies in African nations, to provide resources, like diagnostic, laboratory and treatment facilities and trained staff. 

* Urges all parties to take a holistic view to health, paying attention to mental health needs in Africa facing COVID-19 outbreak, consistent with the equity in mental and physical health outlined in the first paragraph of the Universal Health Coverage Political Declaration adopted by governments at the UN last October 2019.

* Strongly suggests that civil society, public health professionals and NGOs experienced in crisis interventions coordinate efforts to help, partnering with the African Union and other local, national and international agencies and government entities, and that the latter reach out to these groups.

* Points to the need for special attention for already vulnerable countries, like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, already suffering from the Ebola viral epidemic which is abating but which could easily re-ignite and cause a double crisis if COVID-19 spreads. Countries that suffered hardest from Ebola in 2014 are buffering protection efforts, but could still fall prey to infection.

* Suggests implementing lessons learned from other infectious disease outbreaks.

* Urges preparing children worldwide who could be frightened and/or stigmatized, as well as preparing teachers, schools and parents, especially in the event of school closings.

* Advises governments and media worldwide to be transparent in reporting.

* Advises all: be alert not anxious.

“We stand ready to act with all parties -- the African Union, United Nations, NGO colleagues, business, media, all government and civil society actors, and any public and private groups,” says Nurhussein. “For now, and for the long-term, as the effects will last a long time.”

Bill Gates is right. “There is no time to waste.”

Response to the Coronavirus can benefit from lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak: See Dr. Judy's book based on her providing psychosocial support during that epidemic in Africa, and other resoucres of her work there with childrem, burial teams, and others, and a wonderful inspiring song "Hope is Alive" relevant for all crises and times:

Book:

    “The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola has Taught Us about Holistic Healing” (J. Kuriansky) Publisher: Praeger, ABC-CLIO. http://www.abc-clio.com/abc-cliocorporate/product.aspx?pc=a4983c

Articles:

  * Blog for World Humanitarian Summit: http://www.e-ir.info/2016/05/19/i-am-african-i-am-not-a-virus/

 *  http://www.algemeiner.com/2015/02/09/how-a-new-york-psychologist-and-an-israeli-humanitarian-organization-are-helping-sierra-leone-stand-up-to-ebola-interview/

Videos 

Ebola: Psychosocial Issues During and After the Epidemic [Video file]. Access at: https://bit.ly/207xXL7  

Ebola in Sierra Leone: Burial Team Workshop by Dr. Judy Kuriansky [video file].   

     Access at: https://bit.ly/2Mwe3eg

Ebola: Voices from the Field: (2018, February 6). [Video file]. Access at:

     https://bit.ly/2JHTttn

Ebola, Theme song:  “Hope Is Alive” music video. Access at:

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkLbxn2Irrw

The United Nations Prioritizes Mental Health On World Mental Health Day

As I handed out blue and yellow pins today in the lobby of United Nations New York headquarters, with the logo “Mental Health Matters,” people rushing by with stern faces stopped and smiled.

“We need more mental health,” many said.

The behemoth august body of the United Nations is paying attention to that need.  Today, on World Mental Health Day, workplace mental health was front and center. It’s all part of a UN organization-wide campaign.

Support comes from the very top, with the UN Secretary-General António Guterres making mental health a priority. The video message from the Deputy Secretary General (DSG) Amina J. Mohammed on this day was loud and clear about caring:  https://youtu.be/VAB-HI1bys4.

The message is finally breaking through, as the World Health Organization (WHO) has long maintained, “There is no health without mental health.” And as research increasingly shows, paying attention to employee’s mental health actually pays off – in more efficient and happier employees, taking less sick time.  

The DSG’s video message warms my heart. I remember meeting with her five years ago with then-Ambassador of Palau Dr. Caleb Otto when we partnered on advocacy for the inclusion of mental health and well-being in the agenda for sustainable development that was subsequently adopted in 2015 by all 193 Member States of the UN. It was a historic success for mental health and well-being to be in such an international document for the first time.

The document, the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, is the UN’s blueprint for achieving 17 goals for the good of the people and the planet, with mental health and wellbeing along with eradicating poverty, and achieving peace, gender equality and education for all.

Since then, achieving mental health has now also been equated with physical health in the Universal Health Coverage political declaration adopted by the UN member states just last month.

Today, on this World Mental Health Day, the awareness of the importance of well-being is now so much more well-known in this internationally important body.

The commitment is evident in the UN’s mental health strategy, being implemented by the new Global Lead, Therese Fitzpatrick.  She has already launched a website with valuable information about workplace mental health.  And today, an exciting webinar series was launched, that I was thrilled to be part of.

Therese’s introduction gave an overview of the UN Workplace Mental Health and Well-being Strategic Action Plan 2018-2023, a comprehensive approach to address the needs of UN personnel across the globe in so many different duty stations.

The need is great.  A survey of over 17,000 UN employees revealed 18% of respondents reporting anxiety, 22% reporting depression, 19% reporting PTSD and even higher numbers reporting alcohol overindulgence, numbers higher than the general population.  

The website is full of helpful information, on the flyers we handed out today, addressing topics about “Understanding Mental Health,” “Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace,” and “Recognizing Signs of Poor Mental Health.” See: https://www.un.org/en/healthy-workforce/

In the next webinar, my colleagues and I presented about mental health at work and in life.  Dr. Walter Reichman, an industrial/organizational psychologist for the management consulting firm Orgvitality and a UN NGO representative for the International Association of Applied Psychology (that I also represent) spoke about stress in the workplace and recognizing symptoms of co-workers. 

As a clinical psychologist, I presented techniques to immediately cope with stress, that are simple yet based on solid psychological principles. The tools come from years of providing psychosocial support after disasters worldwide (e.g., China, Japan, Sri Lanka, Ebola in West Africa, and with refugees), teaching at Columbia University Teachers College, and giving advice on radio, TV and in print around the world.

“Thought-stopping” and “reframing” change negative thoughts to positive ones by changing your mindset.  Treat yourself, whether singing out loud even if you can’t carry a tune, going for a walk in nature, or hugging a friend, shifts stress chemicals like cortisol and adrenaline to the “cuddle chemical” oxytocin and the “pleasure chemical” of endorphins.

In the webinar, we didn’t even shy away from the oft-taboo topic of suicide – which after all, was the theme of this year’s World Mental Health Day. Psychologist Dr. Leslie Popoff, UN NGO representative of the International Council of Psychologists and current President of the Psychology Coalition of NGOs accredited at the United Nations, transitioned from recognizing signs of distress in co-workers and also more serious symptoms of thoughts about ending one’s life.

Notably, terms matter.  Instead of the term “committing suicide,” better to say, “end one’s life.”  (It’s a message brought home last Friday at a meeting of the Deadline Club, teaching journalists how to report sensitively about suicide.)  

Governments at the UN are getting on board.  The Group of Friends of Mental Health and Well-being – that Ambassador Otto and I founded years ago during the intergovernmental negotiations -- is now headed by Canada, Belgium, Bahrain and Ecuador with members from around the world, from Japan to Belize and Trinidad and Tobago to Ireland and Portugal, Brazil, and Morocco. Today, Maldives, Iran, and Guatemala got interested in joining, when I greeted them with “Happy Mental Health Day,” following Therese’s example.

Two days ago at the International Conference on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Crisis Situations, “Mind the Mind,” held in Amsterdam, October 7-8, 2019, hosted by the Netherlands, countries including Iraq, Jordan and India committed to promoting psychosocial support in emergency situations. Years ago when Ambassador Otto and I were advocating about “psychosocial resilience” (about the people) being included in the Agenda, distinct from infrastructural resilience (about alarm systems and where to place buildings) but it was too soon, and governments were unfamiliar with the term. 

Now, the time has come for those terms, mental health, well-being, and psychosocial support.

It couldn’t come soon enough, as statistics from WHO show alarming rates of anxiety, depression and suicide, especially in young people.

Suicide results from profound hopelessness, desperation, and depression.

On a previous World Mental Health Day celebrated at the United Nations, the topic was “Depression: Let’s Talk.” The same goes for suicide: Let’s talk.

On that panel, I mentioned the 3 S’s: silence, shame, and stigma. These persist and must be eradicated.

The smiling faces of guards, staff and delegates on this World Mental Health Day at the UN proves mental health, well-being and hope is here.

Photo Caption: At “Mental Health Matters” UN lobby exhibit (left to right): Daniel Gbujie; Therese Fitzpatrick, Global Lead UN Mental Health Strategy; psychologist Dr. Judy Kuriansky; Omar Castañeda Solares from the Mission of Guatemala to the UN; psychologist Dr. Leslie Popoff

Disability Rights Promoted At The United Nations

The rights of persons with disabilities got a big boost from representatives of the World Health Organization, United African Congress, International Association of Applied Psychology and high level government officials from Norway, Georgia and Sierra Leone.

The triple trauma in Sierra Leone of the 11-year old war, the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak, and the 2017 mudslide increased rates of disability, leaving survivors with hearing, speech, and vision impairments.

The government is doing something about that.

At an event at United Nations headquarters in New York City on 12 June during the Conference of State Parties on the Convention of the Rights of Disabled Persons, representatives from the Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations and from the Embassy of Sierra Leone to the United States, among others, spoke out.

“Those of you who have been to Sierra Leone, will see a lot of amputees on our streets, because that was a tactic used by the rebel factions to intimidate the population…and mentally impaired persons owing to the traumatic experience the country went through,” said H.E. Victoria Mangay Sulimani, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations. 

Action to help have been taken. 

Actions include ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities ten years ago. Relentless commitment to elevate the standards of health and wellbeing of persons with disabilities is already demonstrated..

“We already had in existence institutions such as special needs schools, hospitals, homes that provided for education and needs of the physically impaired, mentally challenged, and visual impaired as well as speech and hearing impaired,” explained Ambassador Sulimani.

 “Of course, there is provision in our Constitution, in Article 8, that also provides for the promotion and protection of the rights of persons with disabilities.”

Also, the Disability Act of 2011 mandates free health care for people with disabilities, provides compulsory screenings at health care centers for early identification of people with disabilities and proscribes discrimination.

The Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs is the lead ministry.

More recent actions are numerous.

A mid-term National Development Plan has been put in place for 2019 to 2023, centering on “Education for All” incorporating unprecedented visibility and inclusion of people with disabilities.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in April with the adjoining country of the Republic of Guinea to share best practices for the socio-economic and cultural empowerment of persons with disabilities in both countries, with technical teams of both countries in advanced stages of an Action Plan.

Also, plans are in place to repeal the antiquated Lunacy Act of 1902, that many non-governmental organizations in the country have called for.

Significantly, a foundation known as the Maada and Fatima Bio Foundation Sierra Leone which is the foundation by the President of Sierra Leone Julius Maada Bio, and his wife First Lady Fatima Bio are making efforts to improve the living standards for people with disabilities, with the creation of the Directorate for Persons with Disabilities.

H.E. Sulimani emphasized Sierra Leone’s commitment to cooperate with the international community and other key stakeholders to advance an inclusive society where no one will be left behind in the development process.

Also speaking on behalf of Sierra Leone at the event was Mr. Joseph Y. Fofanah, Administrative Assistant and Disability Coordinator representing the Sierra Leone Embassy in Washington DC. Himself a disabled person, Mr. Fofanah enumerated needs for the disabled including and made an impassioned appeal for donations of crutches, wheelchairs canes and educational materials (musical instruments, learning tools in Braille), as well as for volunteers to provide psychosocial counseling and trainings in various skills.

“We have disabled persons who did not go to school and are not educated, but who have skills and talents,” he said. “If we have partners who can empower them and train them, we can make a better world.”

“We also have disabled who can sing well,” he added. If we have someone who can empower them in the area of music, we can go higher and higher.”

On his wish list, a separate building in Freetown, to serve as a centralized secretariat that addresses all the services for persons with disabilities, with different departments for education, health and transportation. 

The Sierra Leone delegation was considerable, including many who came to the conference from the home country, including from the Sierra Leone Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, Director of Social Welfare Mohammed Francis Kabia; from the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Finance and Administrative Assistant Francis F. Solokor; from the Sierra Leone National Commission for Persons with Disability, Finance Manager Ibrahim Jimissa; and from the Sierra Leone National Commission for Persons with Disability, Chairman James Taiwo Cullen and Executive Secretary Saa Lamin Kortequee.  First Secretary at the Mission of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, Linda Senesie also offered support. 

In opening the week-long conference, United Nations Secretary General António Guterres admitted, frankly, that an earlier report commissioned for a comprehensive review of performance on disability inclusion, revealed “not a pretty picture.” Thus he announced the launch of the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy of Action to raise the standards of the UN's performance on disability inclusion across the board “to bring about the unified and transformative change we need.”  See: https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2019/06/secretary-general-of-the-united-nations.pdf.  

The event at the UN, entitled “Reaching Higher Standards of Health and Well-Being through Cultural Engagement, Empowerment, and Inclusion” was meant to highlight examples of initiatives around the world raising awareness on achieving better health outcomes for those challenged by disability by presenting positive policies and innovative programmes including community projects and talents of persons with disabilities that foster inclusion in cultural life.  

Co-sponsors included the World Health Organization (WHO), the Permanent Missions of Norway as well as the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations, the International Association of Applied Psychology (IAAP), the United African Congress (UAC), and the Psychology Coalition of NGO’s Accredited at the United Nations (PCUN).

The co-organizers and co-producers were Eva Kiegele of the WHO office at the United Nations and Dr. Judy Kuriansky, representative of the International Association of Applied Psychology and the World Council for Psychotherapy to the United Nations, Trustee of the United African Congress and Psychology Professor at Columbia University Teachers College.

Dr. Kuriansky had been to Sierra Leone several times, to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through radio shows, in collaboration with Search for Common Ground, and during the Ebola outbreak of 2014-2015, providing psychosocial support. Her book of lessons learned is “The Psychosocial Aspects of a Deadly Epidemic: What Ebola has Taught Us about Holistic Healing.”

In opening remarks, Mr. Werner Obermeyer, Executive Director Ad Interim, WHO Office at the United Nations emphasized WHO statistics that about 15% of the world population lives with some form of disability and that mental health, and depression particularly in youth and the elderly, will be the leading cause of disability worldwide by 2030. A recent survey showing that between 35% and 50% of people with serious mental disorders in developed countries and between 76% and 85% in developing countries did not receive needed treatment.

Speaking on behalf of the co-sponsoring United Nations Member State of Norway, Minister Jan Christian Kolstø, Vice Minister from the Ministry of Culture of Norway, reported a recent Norwegian study where half of individuals with a disability reported considerable mental difficulties.

“Combatting prejudice and intolerance is fundamental to my government,” he said, as well as holistic care, including physical, social, mental and economic support, participation in cultural life and sports activity.

He emphasized their Strategy for the Quality of Persons with Disabilities, especially addressing children and young people’s mental health, and a new 4th Action Plan focusing on mental health in women and children.

A video was shown, produced for the event, showcasing initiatives in Russia (by the Congress of the Union of Mental Health); community mental health centers in Georgia and by L’Arch, an organization of community living centers around the world; and an innovative public restaurant run by disabled persons at the Hadaf Rehabilitation Center in Rabat, Morocco. 

Taped messages included from noted singer/songwriter and U.N. Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder and the recent Tony Award winner for the musical “Oklahoma,” Ali Stroker, the first person in a wheelchair to win the coveted award. The video was produced by IAAP’s Dr. Kuriansky with assistance from IAAP representative Russell Diasey and edited by IAAP youth representative Joël Zinsou. See: https://youtu.be/30XVy4EYj8c

The country of Georgia was represented by Ms. Elene Agladze, Deputy Permanent Representative of Georgia to the United Nations, who described the “National Strategy and Action Plan” for her country for 2015-2020 that calls for a shift away from long-stay hospitalization to a balanced service, including community-based centers, crisis intervention centers, social services, and a mobile team of doctors and psychologists who visit patients at principal of ensuring treatment of anyone with mental disorder with respect in a human rights framework, providing access to care, and ending discrimination and stigmatization. Georgia has also increased its financial commitment; in 2008, the mental health budget was increased by 33% (about USD$2 million) to improve community care services.”

Georgian Psychiatrist Dr. Rouzi Shengelia, currently a psychiatrist at Bronx Lebanon Hospital in New York City, described the innovative “Mobile Crisis Team” where a team of health service providers goes to visit people at home for care. Georgian psychiatrist Dr. Mariam Menteshashvili, supported the claim that the program can be replicated worldwide.

In an exceptionally powerful testimonial that brought tears to many attendees’ eyes, Mr. Kade Clemensen, shared his mental health challenges as a child and attempt to end his life at the age of eight with his father’s gun. This act was in stark contrast to outward success in swimming and basketball sports and many friends and siblings. Parents, teachers, clergy, siblings, and friends need to know how to talk about suicide and mental health issues. Kade founded The BiiG Picture, an NGO that encourages open discussion by youth, parents, teachers and all others, in a safe space of empathy and love, to talk about mental health without stigma or shame, as if talking about the flu or a broken arm, and to encourage Access, Funding, and Education.

“We need to remind ourselves and children all around the world that it’s okay to open their hearts and share what they’re going through, and to remind ourselves to listen and offer support,” Kade said.

Kade was supported by his friend, Daniel Gimenez, Counsellor in Global Health, Education, Funds & Programmes, UNICEF, and Financing for Development, at the Mission of Norway to the United Nations.

In another account of a personal journey, Mr. Christopher Bailey, who founded the Arts and Health Programme at WHO, performed his monologue entitled “The Mark of Cane: Journey Into Blindness,” describing the gradual loss of his eyesight (to 5% of normal), and how he handled and overcame his disability,

49 million blind people and 249 million clinically low-sighted people are in the world, 90% of whom live in developing countries with little access to technologies.

Bailey interacts with audiences using smell and hearing.

“If I said something that made them laugh, or made them gasp, it had the effect through the echolocation of lighting up the room,” he explained.

The brain gets rewired. When visual information is reduced, the plastic nature of the brain collects the equivalent of visual information through other senses as smell, touch, taste, and hearing.

Thus, Bailey walks in a busy thoroughfare using the Doppler Effect of Ambient Sound Reflection, listening to the vanishing point of moving traffic to determine the physical dimensions around him.

To end his monologue, Bailey quoted the familiar phrase from the spiritual hymn “Amazing Grace”: "I was blind, but now I see."

Attendees to the event included Richard Blewitt, Head of Delegation, Permanent Observer Delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to the United Nations; President of the United Africa Congress Mr. Gordon Tapper; Broadway producer Pat Addiss; former students in the “Psychology and the United Nations” class at Columbia University Teachers College, Ran Fang and Candice Noble; and Maria Viola Sánchez, Fielding Graduate University and American Psychological Association Society for Media Psychology and Technology, who came all the way from California for the event.

In closing remarks, Dr. Judy Kuriansky commended the speakers on their brains and hearts, and acknowledged Norway, Sierra Leone, Georgia and other countries for innovative policy and programs that are ongoing in their nations.

She acknowledged four projects: the Visibility and Inclusion Strategy launched by the Secretary General of the UN at the conference opening; the “Health in Your Hands” platform launched at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May, for those with least access; the WHO-approved Arts and Health program promoting cultural performances of people with disabilities; and the “Biig Picture” for youth openness.

She recommended: 

• Emphasizing the importance of policies and a holistic and multi-level programs including cultural creations to support inclusion and dispel myths and stigma about persons with disabilities;
• Creating multi-stakeholder partnerships that include Persons With Disability;
• Moving away from institutions to community settings;
• Intentions for ongoing focus on “Reaching Higher Standards of Health & Well-Being through Cultural Engagement, Empowerment & Inclusion.”

Finally, she voiced collective determination to continue promoting Access, Visibility, Love, and Respect for all. 

Photo caption (left to right, front row):  Mr. Kade Clemensen, Executive Director, BiiG Picture; Vice Minister Jan Christian Kolstø, Ministry of Culture of Norway; Mr. Werner Obermeyer, Executive Director a.i., WHO Office at the United Nations; (back row):  Mr. Joseph Fofanah, Disability Coordinator, Sierra Leone Embassy, Washington D.C.; Dr. Judy Kuriansky, International Association of Applied Psychology, World Council for Psychotherapy and United African Congress; H.E. Mrs. Victoria Sulimani, Deputy Permanent Representative, Mission of the Republic of Sierra Leone to the United Nations;  Mr. Gordon Tapper, President, United Africa Congress.

Free Education In Sierra Leone: Interview with Minister Alpha Timbo

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - In light of Sierra Leone’s new free education program, the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education of Sierra Leone, Alpha Timbo, was invited to Dubai to participate in the prestigious World Government Summit held 9-12 February 2019.  His views were particularly requested at a one-day high level Capacity Building Program that brought together forward-looking public servants to exchange ideas about how to transform government policy and service delivery, particularly by applying innovative ideas using digital technology tools.   

The Capacity Building Program was co-hosted by the World Bank Group and the World Government Summit Organization.  

The annual meeting of the World Government Summit brings together world leaders, policy makers, academics, researchers, experts in all fields and other stakeholders, to share cutting-edge innovations, best practices and forward-thinking creative solutions to global problems. About 4,000 participants from over 130 countries attended sessions about every sector from technology to education, economics and tourism.

Minister Timbo was also asked to participate in a session on “Delivering Better Education Services through Digital Platforms."

Also invited to the meeting was the director of Policy and Planning in the Ministry of basic and Senior Secondary Education in Sierra Leone, Mrs. Adama J. Momoh, given her role in the implementation of the annual digital school census. This initiative was of great interest in the context of the Summit’s emphasis on technology applications.

This writer had an opportunity to conduct an interview with Minister Timbo at the meeting.  She had been invited to the Summt by the Office of the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, as a member of the Global Council on Health of the “SDGs in Action” initiative set by the UAE government to generate innovative ideas to achieve the sustainable development goals. She also participated in the Happiness and Well-being track, as in previous years, given her work at the United Nations and with the UAE on this topic.

In this interview (below), Minister Timbo described his goals for education in Sierra Leone, in light of the initiative of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio, “Free Quality School Education (FQSE) Programme,” that coincides with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 about “Education for All.” He also related some lessons learned from this dynamic meeting with the best minds in the world, that apply not only to his Ministry but that he impressively intends to share with other Ministers back home.

The program of President Bio to provide free quality education to pre-primary, primary and secondary education for government and government-assisted schools reflects a major investment in the country’s youth for development. Launched in September 2018, the budget allocation to education was increased to 21% of the national budget. Also, parents and teachers were called on to support the initiative.

Besides paying tuition fees, the government provides teaching and learning materials -- textbooks, pens and pencils -- as well as food and sports equipment for students and also pays for rehabilitating schools, including  providing furniture.

The Ebola epidemic created a serious crisis in education by suspending school and interrupting children’s education -- a situation with which this writer is well familiar, having been in Sierra Leone during Ebola to provide psychosocial support to such out-of-school children. 

School attendance is now mandatory. The government takes action against parents who do not comply, for example, who send children to trade training instead of schooling or who assign excessive chores that interfere with schooling. 

While some critics have charged that still not enough students are going to school and that teachers are not paid enough salary, others offer resounding support. 

Support is evidenced, for example, in having been lauded by the United Kingdom Acting High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, Colin Crorkin Obe, speaking on behalf of World Bank, Irish Aid, World Food Programme and UNICEF.

President Bio had the distinct honor to talk about his flagship free quality education project at a session with United States’ billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September 2018.

While in Sierra Leone until recently, completing official ceremonies for his new appointment as Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the United States, H.E. Sidique Wai reported, “It was unprecedented to observe many children in school uniforms going to, and returning from, school, as evidence on the ground of the fact that the program is working.”

“An educated public through the President’ s investment in the dynamic minds of Sierra Leonean youth is essential to reducing poverty in the country,” Wai added. “So many parents who could not afford school fees now have a chance for the better future for their children.”

From his new post in Washington D.C., Ambassador Wai plans to launch a program for the diaspora to offer support. “It’s a down payment on our country,” Wai says.

In further support, President Bio pledged three months of his salary to support the free quality education programme, and First Lady Her Excellency Madam Fatima Bio launched a multi-donor basket fund to raise additional funds.

Alhaji Alpha Osman Timbo was appointed as Minister of Primary and Secondary Education by Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio. He had previously been a presidential candidate but in the past election, then put his support behind the current President’s successful run.

His valuable experience in the field of education is evidenced by his service as the Secretary General of the Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union.

He also served as Sierra Leone Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations from 2001-2002 under president Ahmed Teian Kabbah.

Interestingly, Minister Timbo also has experience in sports administration, serving as previous chair of the Sierra Leone National Premier League, and currently as chair of Sierra Leone Premier League club Mighty Blackpool.   

Born in a small rural town in the Northern province of Sierra Leone, Minister Timbo attended primary school in his hometown, secondary school in Makeni and Freetown, and then attended Fouray Bay College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, law and philosophy. 

Our interview:

Dr. Judy: I am delighted to meet you. Tell me why you’re here at the World Government Summit.

Minister Timbo: This is first time of participating in this particular summit. My participation was made possible through the World Bank and UNICEF. Primarily, it is for us to be able to share our experiences with colleagues all over the world. I think it has been very rewarding. A lot of lessons were learned - how government is to be run. We have also had the opportunity of meeting a lot of people. We have made valuable contacts with people that I believe will definitely help us in moving ahead our free quality school education program that has been launched by His Excellency the President of Sierra Leone, Retired Brigadier General Julius Maada Bio.

Part of my excitement also has to do with meeting with you. You have demonstrated a whole lot of passion about Sierra Leone. And I think that is exemplary… People have come from far away, you know, they have more determination in seeing our development, sometimes more than our people. This is actually gratifying.

Dr. Judy: That is very sweet. So, when you said lessons learned, what did you learn from being here?

Minister Timbo: A lot. Here… the virtue of humility shown by the leadership of the UAE. They have been able to demonstrate that they are very tolerant people. They are ready to share the development and transformations they going through.

For me as a Minister for Education, one of the greatest excitements was my meeting with Dubai Cares* and their leadership,  an important connection that we have made that I think we will definitely have benefit from.

In fact, we have been invited to the launching of the satellite in France, and I am definitely going to insure that the Minister of Information and Communication participates in that particular area.

This conference also shows how technology can help transform the nation. What climaxed everything is the awards that are given to people who have demonstrated ability on research. This shows that people can be rewarded for doing a good job. For me that is also something I will always remember. I think that is something that we have to make sure we copy, as an example for us to do something like this back home.

[*Author’s note:  Dubai Cares is a UAE-based philanthropic organization whose work is consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” This includes access to quality primary and secondary education that coincides with the Sierra Leone President’s education initiative.  Founded in 2007 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, from his belief that education breaks the cycle of poverty and gives children the opportunity to valuably contribute to society, the project supports education programs in over 50 countries around the world.]

Dr. Judy: So this has given you an idea to do some awards for people in Sierra Leone.

Minister Timbo: Of course, it is part of our manifesto. The President had promised that he would be able to award the best teacher annually, so we are in the process of making the assessment processes.  What I admire is the methodology that is being used today, especially for the last award which was done through the voting of delegates*. I think that is something that is that is actually rewarding.

[*Author's note:  At the Summit's final session, awards are given out to the most innovative programs using technology for the future of government and advancing society in various sectors, e.g., city planning, health, education.  An award is also given to a graduate student group winning the university competition for the most innovative project imaging the future of government.  The last award is voted upon by the attendees in the audience].

Dr. Judy: So what will you do with Dubai Cares? 

Minister Timbo: Well for now, we intend to work with them in the area of assisting us especially in improving the infrastructure for our schools, now that we have the enrollment increased as a result of the free quality school education. 

They also gave us some ideas as to how we‘ll be able to improve tourism in our country. These are things I will pass on to the Minister of Tourism, and maybe we will do a follow-up as far as that particular area is concerned.

Dr. Judy: What is the most exciting thing you find about being the Minster of Education?

Minister Timbo: The fact that we nurture the lives of young people for them to be successful citizens is one of the most rewarding things.  Any nation cannot develop without the quality of its people.  That is what is clearly shown in this new development.  It’s not about the roads that you have, the big buildings that you have. It is the human capital that you develop.  That is why I am very happy about the work I am doing now, making sure that we encourage the young minds of Sierra Leoneans, to make sure that they also become useful citizens and participate in the transformation of the country. That is why the President asked me to promote this idea everywhere. That is the right way to go.

Dr. Judy: As a psychologist, I have to ask you, how do you feel about what your parents did to raise you to be such a gentleman, so well-spoken, intelligent and doing something for others. What did your parents do for you that you want Sierra Leonean parents to do for their kids that will help for their future?

Minister Timbo: Well, I come from a very humble background.  My parents are not lucky to have formal education, but they do have Arabic or Islamic education. And that is the norm that was initially, you know, translated to us.  We are taught to pray, to do our five daily prayers since we are young. We are taught to be humble, and we are taught to work hard.  We have always been taught to avoid things that would bring disrepute to the family…As a family, we are always mindful about that.  Wherever we go, we have to make sure that we make the representation that depicts, you know, the values of our family, so that's very critical.

Dr. Judy: And what do you teach your children? You can tell that as a psychologist that’s what’s important to me.

Minister Timbo: We teach them the value of humility. Wherever they go, they have to make sure they respect elders. They have to make sure that they take their work very seriously.  They avoid participating in groups that will bring disrepute to the family. These are things that we normally bring to their attention.  And I think over the years, God has blessed us with that.

Dr. Judy: So, what would be your advice to parents?

Minister Timbo: My first advice to parents is to make sure they send their children to school.  Whatever opportunity that is provided for now, they have to make use of that. You know, education is the key to the individual’s personal development, community development, and national development.  So that’s very important. I always want to admonish parents to be make sure they take premium on that, especially for girl children. Today, everywhere we go, I am very much impressed with the participation of women at international level.  So I would want to see our children [like that] and relate bright examples… all of you are examples… You’ve shown a lot of passion.  You’ve done a lot work for Sierra Leone, participating during Ebola, doing a lot of things about our Ambassador. These are things that will definitely go into history.

As they part, Dr. Judy expresses great appreciation to Minister Timbo for his graciousness and for his impressive work, wishes him well in these important initiatives and looks forward to seeing him again.

The Scourge of Sickle Cell Disease: New Government Action

Caption: (from left to right):  Congo-Brazzaville Minister of Health and Population Jacqueline Mikolo, Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, H.E. Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, and Congo-Brazzaville Minister of Higher Education, Bruno Itoua. Photo: Chriss Portella

New government partnerships offer progress in the fight aganst the debilitating and deadly Sickle Cell Disease.

Minister of Health and Population Jacqueline Mikolo and the Director of the Sickle Cell Center of Brazzaville Congo arrived in Washington D.C. to meet with the U.S. National Institutes of Health and with leaders at the Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) to discuss the serious problem of sickle cell disease worldwide.

The Congolese Delegation, including the Minister of Higher Education, Bruno Itoua, also met with the Ambassador of the African Union to the United States, H.E. Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao, to focus on funding. The AU Ambassador, a Ghanaian national, is very familiar with health, as a family medicine doctor and previous Chair of the African Union-African Diaspora Health Initiative -- where she was involved in mobilizing African Diaspora health professionals to address healthcare needs of the African continent.

The meetings build on many years of exchanges and advocacy about sickle cell disease between the United States and the Congo, explained Minister Mikolo.

“Sickle cell disease is a public health issue in the Republic of Congo,” said Minister Mikolo, noting a rise in the disease within the population.

SCD is being called a “silent epidemic” because of its lack of attention by government and researchers to date.

“We are doing something major to combat this ‘silent epidemic’,” says the Director of the Howard University Center for Sickle Cell Disease, James G. Taylor.  A medical doctor, Taylor has great hopes for this partnership to finally raise the profile of SCD and eradicate the disease.

Currently, SCD affects up to 8,000 patients in the Congo every year. Cases have also been found in Mediterranean countries such as Greece, Turkey and Italy; India; and Hispanic regions in South and Central America and Mexico.

1 in 10 African Americans carry sickle cell traits. 

“It doesn’t matter your skin color but where your ancestry is, since this is a genetic disease,” explains Taylor.

SCD hits close to home at Howard.  University President Wayne Frederick, a medical doctor, has a mild form of SCD.

The partnership between the Howard University Center and the Congo Assistance Foundation, an NGO established by the First Lady of the Republic of Congo, Antoinette Sassou Nguesso, was formed in 2016. The partnership aims to explore how to better serve the population of Congo and other parts of the world facing the ongoing sickle cell threat, working together to contain spread of the disease as well as to foster research in the field and exchange expertise. 

The Republic of Congo Brazzaville is at the center of the disease in Africa, that also affects persons in Gabon, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) at about the same rate.  The Director of the Sickle Cell Center of Brazzaville, Alexis Elira. plans for the Center to serve as the central clearinghouse for the Central African Region.

“We plan to institute better screening throughout the region through new equipment and the latest information and training, with the help of our American partners,” says Elira.

The center has also signed an agreement with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America, headquartered in Maryland.

“Our hope for this trip and in-person meetings is to strengthen the partnership between our Center in Brazzaville with Howard University and the Sickle Cell Association of America,” Elira explains. 

The First Lady of Congo began advocating about sickle cell disease in 2004 because she saw many people in her country affected by the disease, and decided to make it a priority. 

This writer first became aware of the issue when hosting the First Ladies of Africa Health Summit in May 2013 and giving an award to the First Lady of Congo for her work in SCD.  My introduction highlighted her success in advocacy that helped lead to a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2008 recognizing sickle cell anemia as a public health problem, among the world’s foremost and at times most lethal- genetic diseases, and urging Member States and UN organizations to raise awareness annually on 19 June, World Sickle Cell Day.  

Originally a schoolteacher, the First Lady established the Congo Assistance Foundation in 1984 to promote social action in development, education and vocational training and areas of health including HIV.

Sickle cell disease is a lifelong inherited blood disorder whereby red blood cells stick to the blood vessels, blocking blood flow and needed oxygen to cells throughout the body.

The name comes from the shape of the blood cells into a sickle, meaning crescent or moon, shape. 

The disease can be a death sentence.  Sufferers face severe pain, swelling of the extremities, infections, vision problems, and even stroke and organ damage.

Due to pain caused by SCD, patients have even been linked to opiod addiction.

The condition can be diagnosed in utero, through screening. Fortunately, child deaths have been drastically reduced in the United States, due to statewide routine screening of newborns.

Sickle cell anemia makes life difficult for a child, who must deal with delayed sexual maturity and stunted growth.

The problem extends to couples, becoming a serious society problem, explains Minister Mikolo. “Sickle cell is the reason for a lot of divorce in our country.”

There is currently no cure, but there are two FDA-approved drug treatments.

“If people knew about what is available for treatment before they marry and have kids, there would be fewer cases in adults,” explains Taylor, a pediatric hematology-oncologist.

Screening is crucial, as blood or DNA tests reveal the trait.  Every Wednesday, a table is set up at Howard University for free screening.

Prevention can beat the odds.  “If those with SCD marry someone also with the SC traits, there is a 1 in 4 chance of having a child with SCD.

Taylor is glad that the health problems of French-speaking Africa are being recognized, compared to the higher profile given to the English- speaking countries on the continent.  He is also pleased to highlight the lesser-known country of Congo Brazzaville, often mistaken for its much larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

“I am confident Congo-Brazzaville can be leader in this field of medicine and be a First in Africa,” says Taylor.   

The coordinator of the American and Congolese partnership, Mr. Chriss Portella, agrees. “I am very excited about the possibilities now to advance awareness about this scourge and possibly eliminate the disease on not only the American and African continents, but around the world,” he says.

What makes this partnership matter?

“It matters that the government is involved,” says Taylor.  “We need doctors, but political will is what will turn the tables on this disease.”

“The First Lady is to be congratulated in her efforts in this capacity,” he adds.

For more information: james.taylor2@howard.edu

Lessons on love from Martin Luther King Jr.: A psychologist's dream

On January 21st, the “Peace Prophet” and Civil Rights Champion would be 90, a good time to reflect on his eternal contributions to our lives.  To my delight, not only are we indebted to his civil rights activism but to his lessons about love. 

King graduated in 1948 at the age of 19 from Morehouse College with a B.A. degree in sociology and then went on to much theological study, but in fact, some of his sermons make him a psychologist’s dream. Like his “Levels of Love.”

The Levels of Love

“Love is the greatest power in all the world.”

When you think of the brilliant sermons of Martin Luther King, surely “I Have a Dream” and "I've Been to the Mountaintop" come to mind.  Less talked about, but certainly powerful, were his words about love.  As a psychologist, I resonate greatly with his “Levels of Love” sermon series. The wisdom fits perfectly with psychological principles.  Several others make him a psychologist’s dream. 

King did a sermon series on love at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia.  He wanted to do so because love is certainly most sought after but also misunderstood. 

His series included preaching on “Loving Your Enemies” and “Love in Action,” based on the prayer of Jesus Christ on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

His “Levels of Love” sermon on September 16, 1962, describes six levels, from the lowest to the highest.

1. Utilitarian love.  

“Here one loves another for his usefulness to him. The individual loves that person that he can use…There are some people who never get beyond the level of utilitarian love. They see other people as mere steps by which they can climb to their personal ends and ambitions, and the minute they discover that they can’t use those persons they disassociate themselves, they lose this affection that they once had for them.”

This type of love is the lowest form according to King. He warned that it’s selfish and conditional, being based on what someone can do for you.

Refuse to use others or to be used.  Instead, strive for the opposite.  Instead of depersonalizing someone as an “it,” King urged, attain the “I-Thou” relationship described by Jewish philosopher Martin Buber where equals are honored an respected.

2. Romantic love.  

“There is something beautiful about romantic love. When it reaches its height, there is nothing more beautiful in all the world. A romantic love rises above utilitarian love in the sense that it does have a degree of altruism, for a person who really loves with romantic love will die for the object of his love. A person who is really engaged in true romantic love will do anything to satisfy the object of that love, the great love.”

King considered romantic love as real love, where you would go to extremes and even die for your loved one like in the classic love stories of Romeo and Juliet, Anthony and Cleopatra, and Tristan and Isolde.

In King’s allusions to Greek words for love, this type of love is eros. But, King warns, this love is also selfish, because it is based on how the person attracts you – their looks or intellect – and can also lead to jealousy.

I note that psychologist Dorothy Tennov coined the term "limerence" in her 1979 book, Love and Limerence: The Experience of Being in Love, describing the infatuated thrill of falling in love and becoming dizzy, love-sick, and deeply obsessed with a love object. When it ends, the lover feels the world has come to an end.

Psychologist Robert Sternberg’s triangular Theory of Love posed three components: intimacy, passion and commitment.

In my “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to A Healthy Relationship,” I explain essential dimensions, including self-love, compatibility, cooperation, communication, commitment, romance, and spiritual love. Keeping the romance alive is crucial to a long-lasting relationship.  It’s the most common question people asked me in my years as a radio advice host, “How do we keep the love life alive?”

3.  Mother’s love.

“Oh, when life presents it in its beauty, it gives us something that we never forget, for there is nothing more beautiful than the loving care, the tender concern, and the patience of a real mother.”

“Mother’s love brings sunshine into dark places. No matter how low the child sinks, if it's a real mother, she still loves him.”

But even this love has a degree of selfishness, King said, in the act of adoring one’s own child as the product of oneself.

Developmental psychology describes many stages of the mother-child bond, starting from symbiotic attachment when the child is fully dependent on mother, to the “separation-individuation” phase, popularly known as the “terrible twos”, where the child starts pulling away from mother, to define one’s independence and self.  Attachment theory proposes that needs for closeness or separation continue to be negotiated throughout life.

A mother’s unconditional affection without limits or expectations is considered in psychology as the healthiest basis for later successful adult relationships. King describes this quality of unconditional love later, as the highest state of love.

4.  Friendship. 

“It moves a little higher, not because the love itself is deeper, not because the person who is participating in the love is any more genuine of concern, but because its scope is broader, because it is more inclusive…

In romantic love, the individuals in love sit face to face absorbed in each other. In friendship, the individuals sit side by side absorbed in some great concern and some great cause and some great issue beyond themselves, something they like to do together. It may be hunting. It may be going and swimming together. It may be discussing great ideas together. It may be in a great movement of freedom together. Friendship is beautiful.”

True friends united in common interest rise above the jealousy and absorption in each other of romantic love, King claimed. But while appreciating this type of love, the Greek philio, even it is selfish and limiting, being based on liking someone.

5. Humanitarian love.

“It gets a little higher because it gets a little broad and more inclusive. The individual rises to the point that he loves humanity. And he rises to the point of saying that within every man there is a divine spark. He rises to the point of saying that within every man there is something sacred and so all humanity must be loved.”

But danger lies here too, says King, in the fact this love is an abstraction, and excludes any one person.  To support his point, he quotes the Russian novelist Dostoyevsky, that “I love humanity in general so much that I don't love anybody in particular.”

6. Unconditional love.

“The person may be ugly, or the person may be beautiful. The person may be tall, or the person may be short. The person may be light, or the person may be dark. The person may be rich, or the person may be poor. The person may be up and in; the person may be down and out. The person may be white; the person may be black. The person may be Jew; the person may be Gentile. The person may be Catholic; the person may be Protestant. In other words, you come to the point of loving every man and become an all-inclusive love. It is the love of God operating in the human heart. And it comes to the point that you even love the enemy.”

The highest level of love King claims is Christian love (he refers to as the Greek term agape), the love of God that is most inclusive of everyone.  In this state, love conquers hate.

King’s concept is akin to the psychological principle of “unconditional positive regard” popularized by humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers as the best foundation for relationships and in counseling, characterized by genuineness, authenticity, openness, acceptance, empathy and approval. 

 “Christian love does something that no other love can do. It says that you love every man. You hate the deed that he does if he's your enemy and he's evil, but you love the person who does the evil deed.”

According to psychological theory and practice, this principle King describes is the best way to raise a child, or to reprimand anyone. You always love the child, but can disapprove of a behavior.  Never criticize the child by naming a quality, saying, “You are lazy” but rather specify the action that is unacceptable troublesome, saying, “When you don’t do your homework, it shows laziness,” and add what would be better.

Love Yourself and Others

Another speech of King’s –my favorite – speaks eloquently to love of self and others. In the “Street Sweeper,” the message aligns with what I have been telling people, especially youngsters, for years in my role as a life and relationships advisor in media and for worldwide audiences. 

" If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say,...Here lived a great street sweeper."

He elaborated.

“Set out to do such a good job that the living, the dead or the unborn couldn't do it any better. If you can't be a pine at the top of the hill, be a shrub in the valley but be the best little shrub on the side of the hill. Be a bush if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a highway, just be a trail. If you can't be a sun, be a star. For it isn't by size that you win or fail. Be the best of whatever you are.”

Go for excellence in whatever you do. Whatever your supposed social status, value and respect yourself and your work at the highest level and for the highest good.  In surveys, over eight out of ten Americans dread their work and wait for retirement. Instead, find joy in every action and live each day to the fullest.

Also, help others also be their best, especially those who serve. Compliment your mailman, store clerk, and bus driver as if they too were Michelangelo, Beethoven or Shakespeare.

King delivered the Street Sweeper sermon in a Baptist Church in Chicago on April 9, 1967.  He gave the same message to a group of students at Barratt Junior High School in Philadelphia on October 26 of the same year, six months before he was assassinated. He implored them to be their best, and also to stay in school.

He used the parable of the street sweeper to stimulate the youngsters to answer the question: “What is your life’s blueprint?” Your life’s blueprint is your life plan, like an architect designs a building. 

King’s life blueprint to fight against racism was first triggered when he was six years old.  A three-year friendship with a white playmate ended when they entered segregated schools and the boy’s father demanded they not play together anymore. Greatly shocked and asking his parents for an explanation, King learned about racism, and, in his own account, “from that moment on, I was determined to hate every white person. As I grew older and older this feeling continued to grow.”

His blueprint later morphed into an urge to serve humanity. King enrolled into a theological seminary and became a pastor at a Baptist Church. He even got romantically involved with a white woman (before marrying Coretta Scott) but broke it off to prevent interracial tensions.  His leading role in the famous Rosa Parks bus boycott lifted him into a national figure as a civil rights hero.  Guided by his faith, he was striving for the inclusiveness of human rights he valued.

In this way, he can be seen to have reached the highest level of love he described. 

In this way, King reminds us that love is the greatest force in all the world.

Lessons about overcoming personality problems from Martin Luther King, Jr.: A psychologist's dream

  
   

The great orator on broad humanitarian issues like peace and civil rights also preached brilliantly about how to overcome personal problems. Nobel peace laureate and social activist leader Martin Luther King Jr. gave a sermon series during the summer of 1957 at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church on the “Problems of Personality Integration.”  The topics included “Factors That Determine Character” “The Mastery of Fear” “Overcoming an Inferiority Complex” and “Conquering Self-Centeredness.” This article covers the latter two topics.

For this author, a veteran psychologist, the level of King’s psychological insight is impressive.

The Inferiority Complex

“The inferiority complex is one of the most stagnating and strangulating and crushing conditions…plunging into the abyss of inner conflict.”      

The preacher is on point psychologically that an inferiority complex comes from three main sources: lack of self-acceptance, a gap between the real self and the ideal (or as he says, the desired) self, and coming up short when comparing to others. He accurately cites causes like lack of social charm, ill health, unattractiveness or love failures, and also segregation.

The problem is vast. A psychological survey King cites of hundreds of college students reveals that more than 90% suffered from a nagging, frustrated feeling of inferiority. Great men of history were also dogged. His example in scripture is of Zacchaeus so plagued with feeling unaccepted by his small size that he compensates by becoming a tax collector and making big money.  Unconstructive ways to cope include escaping into fantasy or drowning in drink. 

King speaks like the perfect counselor in noting the fundamental way to overcome this sense of inferiority: self-acceptance. 

“Accept yourself as you actually are. Don’t try to be anybody else except yourself.” 

What helps achieve self-acceptance according to King? 

Prayer. “You count because God loves you,” he said.  Famed psychoanalyst Carl Jung agreed that such conditions can be cured by religious faith, he notes.  

 “The thing that every individual should pray to the Almighty God for is to give them that sense of acceptance of the actual self with all limitations and with all of the endowments that come as the results of our being born in this world.”

He continues. “Every man should somehow say, ‘I, John Doe, accept myself with all of my inherited abilities and handicaps. I accept those conditions within my environment which cannot be altered or which I cannot control. And after accepting these I go back to myself and see what I can do with myself’.” 

Accept your looks and limitations. Embrace your actual self.  

King admitted he once suffered in school when trying to emulate a classmate who was faster at statistics. He had to learn to “come down to the point of accepting myself and my dull tools and doing it the best that I could, and this is the thing that every individual must do.”

“A Ford trying to be a Cadillac is absurd. But if a Ford accepts itself, it can be just as durable as a Cadillac, and it can turn many curves that a Cadillac can’t even make, and park in many places that a Cadillac could never get in and can take off with a speed that a Cadillac can never take off with. And in life some people are Cadillacs, and other people are Fords. And when the Ford learns to accept itself as a Ford, it can do things that the Cadillac could never do.”

Accept what you can do, and do that well.

I have one bone of contention. While I’m impressed King refers to “modern psychological terms,” in all my years of experience I never heard the term “substitutionary compensation.”

But I certainly know about “sublimation” that he refers to. Sublimation is a defense mechanism whereby you transform an unacceptable urge into a socially acceptable action or behavior.

“You must learn that even though you are inadequate at certain points, you can take those inadequate points and transform them into something adequate. You can compensate, to use another modern psychological phrase, you can sublimate and take these inadequacies and somehow transform them into something meaningful and something constructive. So the young lady who is unattractive, who is homely, can develop a charm and an inner beauty and personality that all of the world will have to respect.”

Abraham Lincoln is his shining example of someone who was defeated so often in life (losing elections, business and a love) until he found his passionate cause – the abolition of slavery – and became President.

Conquering Self-Centeredness

Narcissism -- the extreme of self-centeredness as an obsession with self over others – is rampant in today’s world.  In his personality series, King names the causes and cures, and self-disclosure. 

“[Too many people] live a life of perpetual egotism. And they are the victims all around of the egocentric predicament. They start out, the minute you talk with them, talking about what they can do, what they have done. They’re the people who will tell you, before you talk with them five minutes, where they have been and who they know. They’re the people who can tell you in a few seconds, how many degrees they have and where they went to school and how much money they have.”

Egocentrics suffer from “arrested development,” and act like children, he says, naming his own daughter “who almost cries out, ‘I want what I want when I want it’.” 

Locked in their own “little solar system,” King critiqued, egotists seek endless admiration and attention, and do nothing.

He offers three solutions:

(1) “The best way to handle it is not to suppress the ego but to extend the ego into objectively meaningful channels…. discover some cause and some purpose, some loyalty outside of yourself and give yourself to that something.”   

Give yourself to something outside of yourself, like family, friends or a job. Find a great cause you can become absorbed in and give your life to.

You will always have an ego and basic desires, King admitted, and pointed to three famous psychoanalysts who identify the major basic desire of humans. For Freud, the basic desire is to be loved; for Jung, it is to be secure, and Alfred Adler said we all need to feel important and significant. King values doing something significant. 

Be like Florence Nightingale who nursed the wounded, he instructs.  Or Albert Schweitzer “who looks at men in dark Africa who have been the victims of colonialism and imperialism and there he gives his life to that.” Or Jesus.

(2) “An individual gets away from this type of self-centeredness when he pauses enough to see that no matter what he does in life, he does that because somebody helped him to do it…No matter where you stand, no matter how much popularity you have, no matter how much education you have, no matter how much money you have, you have it because somebody in this universe helped you to get it. And when you see that, you can’t be arrogant, you can’t be supercilious.”

For King, it’s personal. 

“One of the problems that I have to face and even fight every day is this problem of self-centeredness, this tendency that can so easily come to my life now that I’m something special, that I’m something important.”

“I can hardly walk the street in any city of this nation where I’m not confronted with people running up the street, “Isn’t this Reverend King of Alabama?” Living under this it’s easy, it’s a dangerous tendency that I will come to feel that I’m something special, that I stand somewhere in this universe because of my ingenuity and that I’m important, that I can walk around life with a type of arrogance because of an importance that I have. And one of the prayers that I pray to God everyday is: ‘O God, help me to see myself in my true perspective. Help me, O God, to see that I’m just a symbol of a movement. Help me to see that I’m the victim of what the Germans call a Zeitgeist and that something was getting ready to happen in history; history was ready for it. And that a boycott would have taken place in Montgomery, Alabama, if I had never come to Alabama. Help me to realize that I’m where I am because of the forces of history and because of the fifty thousand Negroes of Alabama who will never get their names in the papers and in the headline. O God, help me to see that where I stand today, I stand because others helped me to stand there and because the forces of history projected me there. And this moment would have come in history even if M. L. King had never been born.” 

Appreciate others for their help in your life, to help you get outside yourself.

(3) “Proper religious faith gives you this type of balance and this type of perspective that I’m talking about…on the one hand, it gives man a sense of belonging and on the other hand, it gives him a sense of dependence on something higher. So he realizes that there is something beyond in which he lives and moves and even moves and gains his being.”

Arrogance is dampened to humility, said King, when you realize that “You are what you are because of the grace of the Almighty God.”

This is King’s way to the integrated personality.

Overcoming Depression 

“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.”

Depression affects 300 million people around the world, according to the World Health Organization. While feeling low occasionally, especially in relation to real stresses in life, is normal, when sadness affects your relationships and work for weeks, it’s time to get help.   

It might be shocking to you to know that the brilliant orator and seemingly fearless leader suffered from depression. Distraught over his adored grandmother’s death, a 12-year old King even allegedly tried to end his life by jumping out of a second-story window. In later years, he has also been considered depressed – or rather deeply frustrated and burdened – about injustice, violence, poverty, and inequities. 

As debilitating or long-lasting as depression may feel, light and joy can still be yours. 

King knew this when he said in his famous “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, delivered on April 3, 1968 at the Church of God in Christ Headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, that out of darkness comes light.

Wise lessons about solving personal problems from King, the Prophet of Peace, Justice and Human Rights. Getting your own house in order, so to speak – being as healthy as you can – fits with my philosophy that peace within leads to peace between people in relationship and then expands to peace on a broader scale among communities, societies and peoples.