The Nouakchott Centre for Specialised Medicine is the only psychiatric hospital to offer inpatient services for mentally ill patients in Mauritania where mental health care services began in the 1970s. But in a still developing country, many people still turn to traditional medicine to find cures for illnesses that are largely misunderstood. For psychiatrist, Mohamed Lemine Abeidi, there is a need “to raise awareness that psychiatric patients are not just lunatics who should be left on their own.” IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES