 |
| Add caption |
 |
| "There can never be health without mental health" |
 |
| A man depressed state |
Depression has been identified as one of the
major causes of mental disorder affecting millions of people worldwide. Studies
conducted in 2004 by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveal that unipolar
depressive disorder ranks as the third leading cause of the global burden of
disease, and will move into the first place by 2030, if stringent measures are
not marshaled to reduce its rate of affection. Moreover, a person with
depressive disorder or clinical depression finds himself in a state of sadness,
thus affecting his state of reasoning. Therefore, people in depressive mood
require urgent care, attention and counseling to help them recover from their
destabilized minds. Speaking at a durbar to mark the World Mental Health Day in
Sandema, the Programmes Coordinator, Presbyterian Community Based
Rehabilitation Programme, Maxwell Akandem cautioned the general public against
excessive intake of alcoholic beverages, drug use and peer pressure since such
practices are major contributing factors to mental illness. The rippling effect
of alcoholism and drug addiction, he advised
has devastating effect not only on a person’s life but on the society as
well, urging all to be involved in efforts at reducing such bad practices. Mr. Akandem on the lighter note, appealed to
government and NGOs to invest and prioritize issue of mental health with the
seriousness it deserves and called on both institutions to help establish
counseling centres at the district levels and additionally engage the services
of clinical psychologists at such centres to enable people with psychosocial
disabilities have easy access to services at the very early stage. This, he
explained, will help prevent fresh cases from developing into acute and chronic
stage. Mr Akandem also advised Ghanaians not to be aggressively hostile towards
persons with mental illness but rather show interest in their welfare by
treating them with dignity and respect. This way, we will be creating conducive
environment for inclusive development in society devoid of stigma and
discrimination. In his later submission, Mr Akandem appealed to the
international community to re-strategize by moving beyond the production of
yearly leaflets to guide countries and organization on strategies to reduce the
menace of mental illness and epilepsy without financial resource for
implementation. According to him, the WHO should expedite action by providing
financial support for the appropriate mental health institutions and agencies
to enhance their activities on mental health as it is done in the area of
Malaria control as well as HIV/AIDS.
Speaking on the theme: “Depression: A Global Crisis”, Dr. Kenneth
Nwaubani, of the Methodist Church in Abia State of Nigeria, encouraged
Ghanaians and Africans in general, to do away with westernization, since it was
having a toll on our traditional value system. According to him, it high time
Africans revisit its rich culture by prioritizing the extended family system to
help alleviate the depressive state of members in the family. A route march
through the principal street of Sandema was carried out to herald the day.
GBC END IA/
No comments:
Post a Comment