Winner
Robin Hammond
Freelance
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"CONDEMNED - Mental health in African countries in crisis"
This so called Rehabilitation facility outside the Niger Delta city of Port Harcourt holds over 170 people with mental illness or mental disability. Run by the government, it was originally designed as a facility to assist widows, but in 1999 it was turned into a place of incarceration for homeless people with mental illness that were cleared off the streets in a ‘clean up’ in anticipation of the FIFA World Youth Soccer Championship. Many patients were in chains and one in handcuffs that were so tight his wrist either side of the cuff was severely swollen. A human rights activist said that it wasn’t that the facility lacked funds but that those funds were being shared out amongst the staff rather than being spent on the care of the vulnerable people staying at the institution. The oil industry that has brought billions of dollars into the Nigerian economy has arguably been a disaster for the Delta region from where it is extracted. Corruption, mass inequality and violence have plagued the region ever since the discovery of the resource. The Niger Delta, Nigeria. October 2012. Photo Robin Hammond/Panos
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