Mental health experts and neuroscientists have convened in Nairobi to explore innovative solutions and strategies to promote brain health in low- and middle-income countries.
The conference held under the theme ‘Healing the Brain: Bridging the Gap in LMICs’ was held for three days till Friday.
The conference addressed the impact that mental health and neuroscience have on individuals, communities, and societies.
It also addressed the obstacles that countries in the global south face in addressing brain health issues including access to care, insufficient research, development and funding, cultural barriers towards help-seeking behaviour and a general lack of awareness by the population.
Aga Khan University President Sulaiman Shahabuddin during the conference noted that in Africa mental health research constitutes just 2 per cent of all health research.
“Globally, mental health receives just 2 per cent of all health funding, and the figure falls to 1 per cent in lower-income countries. In lower-income countries, only a third of national health insurance plans cover mental health conditions such as depression, and there are just 2 mental health workers for every 100,000 people," he said.
"Yet the continent’s suicide rate is the highest of any World Health Organization region, with the rate for men 40 per cent higher than the global rate."
While reflecting on the inspiration behind the conference, Brain and Mind Institute Founding Director Zul Merali observed that indeed, the burden of mental illness is the largest of all diseases put together.
"With great implications for the socio-economic development of our countries. Each of us has a role to play to address this hidden pandemic. We hope that through our expertise, experience, and facilitating continuous engagements with all relevant stakeholders, we will help communities appreciate mental health disorders as illnesses like other illnesses and treat them as such,” Merali said.
Reiterating this, Brain and Mind Institute Deputy Director Prof Lukoye Atwoli lauded the conference as a step in the right direction to address the challenges facing brain health in low- and middle-income countries.
“This inaugural conference seeks to begin these critical conversations and bring on board partners across the board to journey with BMI in achieving our vision of a healthy brain, and healthy world, by putting in measures that culminate in bringing the right care at the right time to the right place. Together we will go far,” Prof Lukoye said.
During the conference neuroscientists and researchers actively engaged in studying the brain's functions and disorders, medical professionals and other healthcare providers specializing in brain and mental health, advocacy groups, policymakers and government officials keen on the latest research and developments on brain and mental health.
The Ministry of Health’s Mental Health Investment Case 2021 put the burden of mental health conditions at Sh62.2 billion as a cumulative cost for medical bills for mental health conditions, lost productivity through absenteeism, presenteeism and premature deaths.
