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| Mr Kingsley Kumbelim (Left) and his Executive Director, Bernard Azuure |
Civil society
actors and the media have been challenged to help clear all public
misconceptions associated with mental health and epilepsy.
It has been established
that mental illness is curable and in order to promote an inclusive society,
persons that have successfully gone through medication and have recovered should
not be rejected by family and friends.
At a stakeholder’s forum on mental
health in Bolgatanga, it was further revealed that stigmatization and stereotyping
rather worsens the condition mental illness patients and should be discarded.
A
Project Officer of Basic Needs-Ghana, an NGO, Kingsley Kumbelim, said people
with mental illness deserves care and attention to help bring them out of their
conditions.
These, vulnerable people, he argued, equally possess skills and talents
that can be harnessed to enable them contribute productively to the growth of
society.
Mr Kumbelim therefore implored families
to support relatives with mental illness in times of medication and after
recovery. The forum organised by Basic Needs with funding by the DFID from the
UK, saw representative of various NGOs and CSOs in attendance.
Background
The engagement
forum organised under the auspices of Basic Needs-Ghana, afforded civil society
actors the platform to deliberate on how mental health issues can be integrated
into their ongoing activities with focus on women, children and the youth.
Women
and children because most often these vulnerable groups are secluded and left
out of decision making processes, thereby inhibiting their capacity to
contribute meaningfully to society.
The key objective is to strengthen the
existing collaboration between Basic Needs-Ghana, NGOs as well as Community
Based Organisations to reach out to more civil society actors on mental health
and human rights issues.
Participants were treated to series of topics on Basic
Needs model and common mental health disorders. Group discussions on
integrating mental health in existing CSO activities was also held to deepen
their understanding on mental health and gender based issues to be able to
build synergies among themselves.
Opening the forum, a Project Officer, Basic
Needs-Ghana, Kinsley Kumbelim said mental health issues constitute a major
health challenge that requires the collaboration of all, most especially health
care providers and other related NGOs.
He said over the years, Basic Needs with
the support of the media and other key actors have played a leading role in enhancing
access to community based mental health services which to an extent ensured a considerable
reduction in symptoms of conditions in 80 percent of people under the treatment
of mental health and epilepsy.
He said inspite of the success story, stigma,
discrimination and lack of family care and cooperation still poses a major
challenge.
Especially in Northern Ghana, a greater number of people with mental illness
and epilepsy are found loitering on major streets with some confined by
relatives due to their conditions.
Others entrusted in the care of traditional healers
suffer all forms of abuse and are treated with disdain. In an effort to effect a
positive attitude towards persons with mental illness, Basic Needs Ghana has partnered
institutions and agencies to champion the cause in dealing with mental illness
and epilepsy.
It has also ensured the formulation of more than 2,000 school
based mental health clubs in 71 basic and junior high schools across Northern
Ghana including the Volta Region.
According to Mr Kumberlim, the move is to heighten
awareness creation while reaching out to the youth.
Giving some facts and figures on
mental health, a Senior Psychiatric Nursing Officer at the Bolgatanga Regional
Hospital, Victor Asangalisah, disclosed that mental health directly or
indirectly affects every individual and that one out of every five persons in their life time is likely to experience
some form of mental disorder.
These, he noted are caused
by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental factors
and must be the concern of all.
He however mentioned psychosis, depression, and intellectual disabilities as some common
disorders, indicating that some can be successfully treated when given the
needed attention.
Story by Isaac Asare
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