The pharmacy department at KUST held a symposium titled Depression on Thursday 21st of November to raise awareness of mental health issues generally and depression in particular and to break the stigma associated with it. Depression is a debilitating condition that affects millions of people around the world. Depression in developing countries does not get enough attention it deserves, sufferers are stigmatised and no attempts have been made to address mental health issues.
The symposium started by MS Monica Diyya who presented a comprehensive introduction to the condition, followed by a presentation by Dr. Ali Yaseen in which, he discussed treatment currently available, their mechanism of action and the difficulty of developing new therapies.
The symposium was concluded by Dr. Asos Rasoul who discussed the role that probiotics and diet has in depression, and how a healthy diet and diverse gut flora can help in treating certain type of depression.