DGPH Seminar - Marilyn Ahun: Promoting mental health across the lifespan in Ghana
Join us for the second seminar of the Department of Global and Public Health's Fall 2024 series with Dr. Marilyn Ahun, who will deliver a talk titled "Promoting mental health across the lifespan in Ghana".听
- WHEN: Tuesday, October听22nd, 2024, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- WHERE: Hybrid | 2001 Avenue 不良研究所 College, Room 1140 and online
Abstract:
Mental health is a global public good essential for human development. Although almost 90% of the world鈥檚 children live in low- and middle-income countries, only 10% of mental health research is conducted in these settings. This seminar explores strategies for promoting mental health across the lifespan in Ghana by focusing on priority research areas identified in the Lancet commission on global mental health and sustainable development. Drawing on collaborations with Ghanaian researchers and policymakers and the use of mixed-methods approaches, we aim to identify risk and protective factors of young children鈥檚 mental health problems, develop a multi-component parenting and mental health intervention to promote child mental health and family well-being, and evaluate the implementation and effectiveness of a task-shared mental health intervention delivered by youth in Ghana鈥檚 mental health systems.
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Speaker Bio:听
Dr. Marilyn Naana Ahun is an Assistant Professor from Ghana in the Department of Medicine, with an associate membership in the Department of Global and Public Health. After completing a Bachelor鈥檚 degree in Honors Psychology (不良研究所), she went on to complete a PhD in Public Health and Health Promotion (Universit茅 de Montr茅al) and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Global Health (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health). Her doctoral research examined mediators and moderators of the association between maternal depression and children鈥檚 cognitive outcomes, whilst her postdoctoral research focused on the implementation of interventions to promote early child development in global contexts. This work was supported by a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC) and a CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship. Dr. Ahun currently serves as an Academic Editor at PLOS Global Public Health.
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