2007 Photo Contest, Contemporary Issues, 1st prize
Photographer

José Cendón

30 August, 2006

A patient is tied down by a member of her family and a nurse, after she tried to escape from the center. In the conflict-torn Great Lakes region of Africa, where health care as a whole faces severe challenges, psychiatric resources are especially thin on the ground. People suffering post-war trauma live alongside those with a range of other mental disabilities in a handful of psychiatric hospitals. The Soins de Santé Mentale is the only such facility in the Sud-Kivu province, an area covering 69,000 km2 with a population of three million. Family members are expected to help staff with patient care.

About the photographer

José Cendón

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