Farmer’s Tiyatien Health wins mental health competition

Tiyatien Health, a social justice organization co-founded by Paul Farmer, the Maude and Lillian Presley Professor of Global Health at Harvard Medical School, was named the grand prize winner in the Ashoka Foundation’s “Rethinking Mental Health: Improving Community Wellbeing” competition, which seeks “the best solutions to improve mental health in communities around the world.”

Sponsored by the Ashoka Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the competition, drew over 340 submissions from 42 countries from around the world.

Tiyatien Health, which includes a number of Harvard-affiliated physicians, residents, and students, works with communities in rural Liberia and the Liberian Government to promote equity by advancing health care services and the fundamental rights of the poor.

The organization will receive a $5,000 prize and its work will be highlighted on the Ashoka Foundation Web site, Changemakers.com, “where innovators, investors, and supporters come together to help refine and scale up the impact of the newest, best ideas for social change.”