Mehreen Arif
HealthRight International
Nepal
I am a first-year master’s student at the NYU College of Global Public Health pursuing my MPH degree in Global Public Health, and I am extremely grateful and honored to be amongst the growing community of distinguished Gallatin Global Human Rights fellows.
My project is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, and I will be working with a health NGO called HealthRight International, which operates from within a human rights framework, and the local FSB (Friends of Shanta Bhawan) clinic. HealthRight and FSB Nepal work together to provide care to local Nepalese ethnic minorities and Tibetan refugees in the Boudha and Jorpati area of Kathmandu.
Health is a human right that, in an ideal world, would most certainly be available to all. Mental health, moreover, is a crucial part of people’s overall well-being. Unfortunately, mental health is a subject that is often eschewed or not even discussed in low- and middle-income countries, especially in South Asia. My research will focus on assessing the burden of mental health issues (specifically, the prevalence of depression, trauma, PTSD, and discrimination) on the Nepalese ethnic minorities and Tibetan refugees in Kathmandu, as well as understanding the barriers impeding Tibetan refugees’ access to mental health services in Kathmandu.
Tibetans have sustained numerous human rights abuses, including torture, in Tibet under Chinese authority, and they have faced obstructions to their religious and cultural daily lives as refugees in their adoptive nations as well.
I chose to do my project in Nepal as opposed to Dharamsala, India, and its surroundings (where the majority of Tibetan refugees reside in proximity to His Holiness the Dalai Llama). Nepal, while a beautiful country, has been riddled with civil unrest and is prone to natural disasters, so support and awareness has been needed to highlight the plight of Tibetan refugees within its borders.
I anticipate some challenges for my project this summer. For one, I must obtain approval from the Nepal Health Research Council board, and it will be a long process. Further, I don’t know how the interview process will pan out. I will be working with a Tibetan language interpreter, and there are a lot of elements to take into consideration, mainly bias and trying to provide a safe environment for the refugees to open up about their mental health stressors. Alongside all of that, I must survive the monsoon season!
But ultimately, my goal is to understand and help Tibetan refugees, a rapidly diminishing and often overlooked faction of Nepalese society.