British psychiatrists are stepping in to help fill the gaps in Iraq’s mental health services, through a training programme for Iraqi health professionals led by the Royal College of Psychiatry.

Seven fellows and members of the college will travel this week to Erbil, capital of the Kurdish regional government zone, to take part in a continuing medical education conference that was organised with Iraqi local and national health authorities, the American Psychiatric Association, and the non-profit humanitarian organisation the International Medical Corps.

Riadh Abed, medical director of Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and one of the programme’s …