Toronto Addis Ababa Psychiatry Project
Started in 2003, the Toronto Addis Ababa Psychiatry Project (TAAPP) is an educational collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto and the Department of Psychiatry, Addis Ababa University, to build and sustain the first psychiatry residency program in Ethiopia. Together, psychiatrists from the University of Toronto and Addis Ababa University have trained 30 Ethiopian psychiatrists in-country bringing the number of psychiatrists in Ethiopia from 11 to 41. There are now 5 departments of psychiatry outside the capital city of Addis Ababa, run by graduates of TAAPP. The mental health system has recently been integrated with the primary care system, improving access to services and necessitating mental health training for all levels of health care workers. As well the Department of Psychiatry at Addis Ababa University is now opening a PhD program and a Masters program in mental health.
Why train psychiatrists? Mental health is an integral and essential component of health, but for years the only psychiatry training available for Ethiopian doctors was overseas, and very few returned to practice. The initiation of an Ethiopian psychiatry training program has resulted in a 95% retention rate and the development and scaling up of services and training for all levels of health care professionals. As the experience of TAAPP demonstrates, positive changes multiply when the number of well trained committed specialists in Ethiopia increases. TAAPP continues to operate three one month teaching trips a year to Addis Ababa, each outgoing teaching group consists of two faculty and a senior resident. TAAPP has become the preferred model of western assistance by Addis Ababa University and is now just one program in a broader educational collaboration called TAAAC (Toronto Addis Ababa Academic Collaboration) which started in 2008 and currently involves 15 similar partnerships in 6 faculties at the University of Toronto.
| TAAPP Directors | ||
| NAME | ADDRESS | CONTACT |
| Dr. Clare Pain, MD, FRCPC Project Director Email: cpain@mtsinai.on.ca |
Mount Sinai Hospital 600 University Avenue, Ste. 934, Toronto, ON M5G 1X5 |
Tel: (416) 586-4800 x8890 Fax (416) 586-8654 |
| Prof. Haile Fenta, PhD Project Director Email: hfenta@ohtn.on.ca |
The Ontario HIV Treatment Network 1300 Yonge Street, Ste. 600 Toronto, ON M4T1X3 |
Tel (416) 642-6486 x2224 Fax (416) 640-4245 |