University Distinguished Professor Michael J. Boivin, Ph.D., and Associate Professor Itziar Familiar-Lopez, M.D., Ph.D., focused their first grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) on teaching caregivers the benefits of the “wetting method” to detoxify cassava, which lowers the risk of children developing konzo, a neurological disease caused by exposure to high levels of cyanide found in the vegetable.
Better adherence to the wetting method to detoxify the cassava has been the foundation for this entire expanding research program. Drs. Boivin and Familiar-Lopez are now co-leading a $3.5M, five-year follow-up NIMH study in the Democratic Republic of Congo to see whether strengthening caregiving practices early in life produces lasting mental health benefits as children grow older.
“We combined the wetting method intervention with follow-up training we call Mediational Intervention of Sensitizing Caregivers or MISC,” Dr. Boivin explained. “It’s a program to enhance responsive caregiving and promote children’s early cognitive and emotional development.”