May 11, 2021
By: Aruna Kamara (Bo)
A Mental Health Nurse in the Kenema District Health Management Team (DHMT), Memunatu Foday has disclosed that the resources needed for mental health care is very expensive.
Speaking at a Community Health Care Awareness Raising in Kenema organized by the DHMT in collaboration with the Mental Health Coalition Sierra Leone, Madam Foday said that there is a mental awareness raising committee that met last year and decided to raise awareness on mental health that will be cost effective.
He said that “we need human resources including the traditional healers and other stakeholders so that the message on mental health will sink into the communities so that the people will be well informed about mental health care”.
Madam Foday said it has been a taboo that people do not talk about mental illness as they refuse to associate themselves with patient with mental health problems and even its programs.
“We want the community people to take ownership of this program by raising awareness of mental health in various communities in Kenema District”, she adds that “in their awareness raising they talked to people to take care of patient with such problem with utmost care.”
Madam Foday continued that “we need to engage the youths who are addicted to taking harmful drugs and to desist from it as it is one of the reasons for potential mental illness.”
She pointed out that they had fruitful discussions with the midwives and pregnant women and advised them to take proper care of their children before and after delivery; as proper monitoring can guide them away from wrongful consumptions of drugs.
According to Madam Foday, they are also giving mental health care in the communities to all patient with mental illness and they are being followed up on, adding that they are doing it because when the patient recover from the illness they will not be discriminated and reintegration will be easy.
She said that there is only one Psychiatric Hospital in Sierra Leone and is in Freetown and it will be difficult for the people with mental patient to go to Freetown, noting that “it is expensive to have the necessary medical attention for mental health care.”
The Regional Coordinator of Traditional Healers Union in the Eastern Region, Alie Vamboi cautioned his constituents to take good care of patient with mental problem, and that they should not be beaten.
The Chairperson of the Social Welfare Committee of the Kenema City Council, Abibatu Farma said that people should stop pelting stones at mentally retarded people.
He added that the sudden death of beloved ones can lead to mental problem as a result of shock and therefore called on people to stop discriminating patient with mental illness as it is not their own making.
Research has indicated that Sierra Leone is a West African country with a population of just over 7 million with many Sierra Leoneans lived through the psychologically distressing events of the civil war (1991–2002), the 2014 Ebola outbreak and frequent floods. Traditionally, mental health services have been delivered at the oldest mental health hospital in sub-Saharan Africa, with no services available anywhere else in the country. Mental illness remains highly stigmatized. Recent advances include revision of the Mental Health Policy and Strategic Plan and the strengthening of mental health governance and district services. Many challenges lie ahead, with the crucial next steps including securing a national budget line for mental health, reviewing mental health legislation, systematizing training of mental health specialists and prioritizing the procurement of psychotropic medications. National and international commitment must be made to reduce the treatment gap and provide quality care for people with mental illness in Sierra Leone.