Swedes lend their expertise to heal trauma for children

Prestigious Swedish institutes are cooperating with Chinese mental health specialists to help children suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after a disaster.

Birgitta Rubenson, a senior lecturer from the department of public health of Karolinska Institutet, led a team of experts from Linkoping University, Stockholm University and Save the Children Sweden to visit Northwest China's Gansu province last month.

Children from Zhouqu, Gansu province, where a devastating mudslide killed more than 1,400 people in August 2010, participate in a psychological assistance activity in the county last year. Wang Jing / China Daily

At a four-day seminar held with the Gansu provincial center for disease control and prevention, both sides agreed on a five-year joint project to conduct research, build a social support network and train representatives from partner institutes.

Jiang Xia, director of mental health at the Gansu Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Rubenson and her colleagues will visit the province again in June to run training sessions on how to treat children suffering post-traumatic stress disorder following a devastating mudslide in August 2010.

The disaster struck Zhouqu county in the Gannan Tibetan autonomous prefecture, leaving more than 1,400 people dead.

A group of Chinese participants in the program will go to Sweden in September to receive further training, Jiang said.

She said the Swedish experts have extensive experience in disaster relief and PTSD treatment in African and Asian countries, including Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and Pakistan.

"They can offer us international perspective and skills, and will help us to localize these practices in Zhouqu."

Chinese experts will go to Zhouqu early next month to survey children living there, and will share their findings with their Swedish counterparts regarding recommended interventional measures, she added.

The project will also evaluate the effectiveness of existing social support groups, including teachers, medical workers and psychiatrists. Yang Yanyun, deputy principal of Zhouqu No 1 Primary School, attended the seminar in March and welcomed international help for the affected children.

The mudslide destroyed the school campus and claimed the lives of 114 pupils and 42 staff and family members.

The school, one of 10 pilot venues to undergo the institute's long-term psychological intervention, has 14 orphaned students and 58 students who lost a parent in the mudslide.

"I look forward to the Swedish experts' visit and their advice. They may help us achieve better results, because what we've done is simply spend time with the students, comforting and listening to them," Yang said.

Contact the writer at liyao@chinadaily.com.cn