The Intergovernmental Authority on Development has called on partners to support the mental health infrastructure in countries neighbouring Kenya.
Igad has raised concern that despite Kenya doing well in addressing mental health challenges, Kenya is bearing the burden and the pressure from the neighbouring countries that do not have the infrastructure and systems.
It is a consortium of eight countries under the African Union Commission.
The countries cumulatively host 300 million people.
They are Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Sudan, Uganda, South Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea.
“One country that is a big neighbour to Kenya is Somalia which Kenya shares the long porous border. It has nonexistent mental health and psychosocial support with almost 0.5 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people,” Igad head of mission to Kenya Fatuma Adan said.
Adan said most of the Igad member states are in low-income countries and have low healthcare services coverage, lack mental health services and suffer from a shortage of mental health workforce.
Data from the World Health Organisation shows that most countries have two mental health workers per 100,000 population.
Of greater concern is that most of the Igad member governments including Kenya cumulatively invest less than two per cent of the health budget on mental health.
“Mental health disorders are highly prevalent in this region and they pause an increasing challenge to the already strained healthcare infrastructure in the region,” Adan said.
“We know this region has witnessed decades of long inter and intra-state conflicts and when we have conflicts we can analyse what this means on mental health.”
The high burden of mental health in the region has been attributed to an increase in climatic hazards that have been witnessed in the last five decades.
Data shows that 50 per cent of all these events have occurred since 2003 contributing to worsening mental health care.
A report from the Igad region showed that by the end of December 2020 the region had 9 million conflict-related internally displaced persons, 4.6 million refugees and asylum seekers and nearly three million people who are newly displaced.
Similarly, two thirds of the region in Igad is Arid and Semi-Arid lands.
The situation has been worsened by severe drought, floods and mudslides in part of the region and tropical cyclones that have contributed to a lot of challenges in mental health.
“We have realised the unprecedented impact of covid-19 on the regional mental health and therefore there is a lot that needs to be addressed,” she said.
“We have to end stigma, discrimination and social isolation of individuals who have mental health illness and families that do have persons who are mentally challenged; the inhuman practice such as being chained needs to be addressed.”
On Tuesday, Kenya became the first country in the WHO Afro region to unveil its Mental Health Investment Case to provide quantification of the costs of mental health conditions to the health sector and the economy.
Kenya will be required to invest Sh8 billion in anxiety disorders, Sh2.2 billion in pesticide ban, Sh13 billion in depression, Sh13.2 billion in psychosis, Sh32 billion in bipolar disorders, Sh4.2 billion in alcohol use disorders and Sh3.7 billion in epilepsy.
This is after studies showed that by Kenya investing Sh81 billion in mental health, the country will accrue productivity gains worth Sh161.1 billion over a 10-year-period.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris
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