RESEARCHERS from the region are piloting a mental health training programme for nurses caught up in the Ebola outbreak.

They say more needs to be done to address the mental health needs of families caught up in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Communities were torn apart as the outbreak quickly became a global health crisis – the World Health Organisation believes nearly 27,000 people contracted the virus with more than 11,000 dying from it.

The case numbers are now dropping and in Sierra Leone there is a shift towards a recovery phase.

However, with limited resources there is still an urgent need to address the psychosocial needs of individuals and families by enhancing the skills of health workers on the ground.

Academics from the University of York’s International Centre for Mental Health Social Research have visited the country three times in the past two years to carry out a feasibility study.

More recently they helped train a group of 20 nurses, the first cohort to ever receive mental health training in Sierra Leone. They are now placed in 14 districts to lead mental health services across the country.