Psychiatric Bulletin (2005) 29: 359. doi: 10.1192/pb.29.9.359
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Psychiatric Bulletin (2005) 29: 359
© 2005 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Board of International Affairs Senior Volunteer Programme
Since its conception in September 2001, the Board of International Affairs
has been considering the possibility of setting up a framework that would
enable consultant psychiatrists to offer their expertise to low-income
countries in a structured way.
Many low- and middle-income countries are known to suffer either from an
acute shortage of psychiatrists (the UK has around one psychiatrist per
15-25,000 population whereas the ratio in sub-Saharan Africa is less than one
psychiatrist per million population and India has around four psychiatrists
per million) or a skills gap (e.g. Eastern Europe experiences an historic
isolation from the rest of the international community and knowledge base),
with consequences for both specialist and primary care mental health services
in those countries.
The College has many practising and recently retired consultant
psychiatrists, some of whom would be prepared to offer their time to support
other countries. However, recipient countries do not have ready access to the
details of psychiatrists who would be prepared to help and psychiatrists do
not have ready access to details of countries where their help might be
valued. Therefore it was felt that the College should endeavour to play a key
role in facilitating contacts between countries and psychiatrists willing to
offer support.
We are delighted to announce that the long-awaited database, which will
allow the College to store and exchange relevant information between
volunteers and host organisations, is now live. On receipt of an application
from a host country/institution, this database will enable us to swiftly
identify a suitable volunteer whose skills, availability, language competence,
etc. match the requirements specified by the host.
We are aware that one of the main obstacles in this initiative is the issue
of funding. We are hopeful that the College will provide the infrastructure
for the administrative side of the programme but it will not be able to offer
any financial assistance to volunteers. Fundraising activities are not
feasible either as the College has limited resources in terms of staff
availability. We believe that, initially, volunteers will be willing to fund
their own travel, with the host institution sometimes able to contribute (e.g.
basic accommodation, meals, local transport, etc.)
To date, the College has received over 120 ‘expressions of
interest’ and over 40 completed volunteer questionnaires.
If you require any further information about the programme, or would like a
volunteer/host questionnaire, please contact the International Affairs Unit
(e-mail:
jcarroll{at}rcpsych.ac.uk).
