The Aro Village system of community psychiatry was started in Nigeria in 1954 by Dr. T.A. Lambo with the aim of making use of traditional sociocultural resources of the community in the treatment of mentally sick persons. The history of the program is presented, and advantages and disadvantages are discussed. In addition, the future role of the program in the health care delivery system of Nigeria is discussed with emphasis on how to guarantee the continuing relevance of the village scheme to the socioeconomic realities of a changing society.
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