Kampala, Uganda -The Peter C. Alderman Foundation (PCAF), a U.S. non-profit organization that trains doctors and operates clinics to heal the psychological wounds of war and terrorism, held the Second Annual East Africa Regional Psychotrauma Training Workshop at Butabika Hospital in Kampala, Uganda.
The Peter C. Alderman Eastern Africa Trauma Training Workshop is the region's only annual, multi-disciplinary conference on psychological trauma in war-affected societies. Organized jointly by the Peter C. Alderman Foundation (PCAF), Makerere University's Department of Psychiatry, Butabika Hospital and the Republic of Uganda Ministry of Health, the July 2008 inaugural seminar at Butabika trained 84 medical personnel from eight countries. This year, at least 150 mental health professionals from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia, DRC, Zimbabwe and Liberia participated.
The seminar combined educational sessions on the tools for treating traumatic depression and PTSD with analysis of war-induced trauma in the context of the region's experience. This year it focused on trauma and loss with an overall goal of building the capacity of trauma therapists in Africa. The training workshop is a central component of PCAF's unique trauma treatment system that aims to quickly build indigenous capacity to return traumatized people to productive lives and eventually enable governmental healthcare systems to heal their countries wounded populations.
"The goal of this workshop is to share practical, affordable and culturally appropriate treatments to address the needs of millions of people affected by war trauma," said Dr. Stephen Alderman, co-founder of PCAF. "We are excited to be back in Kampala and continue the work we started last year, educating and enabling local doctors and caregivers so that they can help heal the mental wounds of survivors in this war-torn region." Dr. Alderman also noted that more people in Africa suffer from traumatic depression and PTSD than from HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria combined.
PCAF operates three Peter C. Alderman mental health clinics in eastern and northern Uganda, one in Tororo on the grounds of St. Anthony?s Hospital, one in Gulu at Gulu University Hospital, and the third just opened in Kitgum on the grounds of Kitgum Hospital. Workshop participants attended the official opening of the Kitgum Clinic on July 24th, which was dedicated by the Ugandan Minister
of Health.
Peter C. Alderman was murdered at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. He was 25 years old. To honor his memory, his family established The Peter C. Alderman Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rebuilding post-conflict societies by returning victims of torture, terrorism and mass violence to productive lives. The Foundation trains indigenous doctors and establishes trauma treatment systems in post-conflict countries around the globe to heal traumatic depression and PTSD, helping to bring communities back to economic and social function.
Since its inception in 2003, through annual training seminars in partnership with the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma, Partners in Health, Makerere University and Butabika Hospital and the governments of Cambodia, Uganda, Haiti and Rwanda, PCAF has trained 196 doctors and mental health workers from 19 countries on four continents including Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Cambodia, Chile, Haiti, Indonesia, Iraq, Macedonia, Peru, Rwanda, Srpska, Spain and Uganda. Each of these healers has gone on to train a countless number of healthcare personnel in his or her own country.
IPCAF operates nine mental health clinics or hospital programs around the world in Cambodia, Uganda, Rwanda and Haiti. To date, more than 100,000 victims of terrorism and mass violence affected by traumatic depression have been treated by PCAF-trained personnel or in Peter C. Alderman Clinics. Barron's Magazine, named The Peter C. Alderman Foundation in 2007 as one of the ten most effective small American philanthropies for its sustained measurable impact on people's lives. For more information, please visit http://www.petercaldermanfoundation.org/.