Frugal Innovations with Global Implications   To kick off a four-part podcast series on frugal health care innovations with global implications, producer Sandy Hausman takes listeners to Kenya to learn about a program called Basic Needs, which provides affordable mental health care in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Program leaders have now begun a […]

As recipients of the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, BasicNeeds is taking part in the Skoll Social Entrepreneurship Challenge. The challenge is designed for Skoll awardees to fundraise for their most pressing projects. BasicNeeds’ focus for the challenge is on children living in the Batticaloa region of Sri Lanka. Many of the children face family […]

BasicNeeds is excited to share our plans to implement the BasicNeeds Model to address mental health and community development needs in the U.S. In partnership with Innovations and Healthcare at Duke University and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, BasicNeeds recently completed a feasibility and implementation planning study. The study has laid a solid foundation for […]

Up to 40 percent of the people in Pakistan could have mental health issues, yet getting help isn’t easy. The stigma against mental illness is prevalent, and even for those who do want to get help, psychiatrists are in short supply. As part of the PBS NewsHour “Agents For Change” series, special correspondent Fred de […]

Following the devastating earthquake in Nepal on April 25th, BasicNeeds has launched an appeal, responding with emergency supplies and psychosocial support via our local partner Livelihoods and Education Development Society (LEADS) Nepal. LEADS works in Myagdi and Baglung areas, very close to the epicenter of the earthquake. Our partner staff in the villages there report […]

Chris Underhill, Founder Director of BasicNeeds received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2013 at the Skoll World Forum held on the 11th of April, following the announcement of his award last December. The Skoll Award marks Chris’ significant contribution to the field of global mental health through BasicNeeds, an international development organization that he […]

Watch the video to learn more about Skoll Award recipients: BasicNeeds and World Health Partners.  

Chris Underhill was among the six entrepreneurs to be awarded the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship 2013 during the Skoll World Forum at Oxford. In his acceptance speech, Chris shared a powerful experience of visiting Africa with his wife as twenty-one year old volunteers and seeing a group of mentally ill people in a cage […]

BasicNeeds Ghana was recently selected by the GlobalGiving Foundation to be a permanent member! Thank you to all the donors who helped us meet the GlobalGiving Open Challenge. Our membership gives us access to new corporate relationships, expanded donor networks, and fundraising tools. Our current GlobalGiving project enables Ghanaian children with epilepsy to receive appropriate […]

The hidden realities of the experiences and living conditions of people with mental disorders and epilepsy in Ghana are poignantly exposed in BasicNeeds’ recently released photographic essay entitled, Ghana – A Picture of Mental Health. The essay illustrates the living conditions of people with mental illness and epilepsy in Ghana. Its purpose is to raise […]