NOOR for Handicap International
02 April, 2016
Hellen Alfred (41) lives with a mental health condition, in Juba, South Sudan. She says she fell ill after the birth of her sixth child.
Mental illness in South Sudan is often attributed to witchcraft. This means the mentally ill are frequently ostracized, and regarded as a danger to society. Many end up in prison. South Sudan’s animist and Christian cultures treat mental illness with traditional cures or prayers, practices that many professionals see as insufficient or as sheer profiteering. Juba has only a handful of qualified psychiatrists and psychologists, but international NGOs are working with the Sudanese authorities to improve conditions for the mentally ill.
Robin Hammond
The winner of two World Press Photo prizes, the RF Kennedy Journalism Award, three Pictures of the Year International Awards, the W.Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography,...
