Vital Signs September 2013
Michael Matergia, M.D., received an International Health Studies Grant from the Massachusetts Medical Society and Alliance Charitable Foundation to help defray the costs of his trip to Darjeeling, West Bengal, India.
What started as a volunteer trip in 2007 to the eastern Himalayan region of Darjeeling, India, became a deep personal connection with the community for Michael Matergia. With the help of a grant from the MMS and Alliance Charitable Foundation, he returned to the area in the spring of 2013.
Under the supervision of local physicians, Matergia, then a fourth-year student at Harvard Medical School, learned how to manage malnutrition, diarrhea, acute respiratory illness, TB, and diabetes in a limited-resource setting.
While there, Matergia developed a system for screening children for mental health issues, to be implemented through the non-profit organization Broadleaf Heath and Education Alliance, founded by Matergia and his wife in 2011.
“Mental health is our generation’s global challenge. Child mental health remains relatively neglected,” says Matergia. “Epidemiologically, 10 to 20 percent of children across the globe have a diagnosable mental health condition. In Darjeeling, zero percent of children are treated.”
Schools hold students with mental health and developmental issues at a grade level where they are able to complete the work, until they age out of the school system. Matergia saw 12-year-olds held back in a first-grade classroom, with no opportunities for personal development.
Physical or corporal punishment is standard; children with ADHD are physically punished into submission, he said. Human resources are scarce in the Darjeeling area. With the exception of one psychiatrist, there are no professionals to provide mental health care.
Beginning in 2014, Broadleaf will hire and train fieldworkers from local communities to screen for mental illnesses and challenges that children are facing using a strength and difficulties questionnaire and counseling. They plan to then offer stable, community-based support to the children, teachers, and their families.
Currently in seven primary schools in three communities, Matergia plans to expand the program to 30 schools and 1,000 students by 2017 and create a model that can be pursued on a larger scale.
Matergia, now a family medicine resident in Colorado, refers to Darjeeling as his “second home” and feels a “lifelong professional commitment” to finish the work he started there. Matergia thanked the MMS and the Foundation for their support.
“This experience has pushed me to develop as a clinician and grow as a future leader in global health,” he said.
The application deadline for this year’s International Health Studies grants is September 15. Visit www.mmsfoundation.org for more information and to apply.
— Allison Healy
MMS International Health Studies Grantee Tackles Childhood Health in Rural India
Schoolchildren in Darjeeling, India, participate in a health program founded by IHSG recipient Michael Matergia, M.D.
Inset: Dr. Matergia confers with a local teacher during a school visit. See full story on Page 4. Photos by Dan Papa
