Health
Nigerians Prone to Mental Illness due to hardship – Expert
Prof. James Obindo, President, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), has said that Nigerians are prone to mental illnesses, due to the visible hardships in the country.
Obindo said this in an interview with newsmen on Sunday in Abuja.
The APN president spoke while giving an insight on the country’s constitutional amendment, particularly as it affects punitive measures for attempted suicide, Correctional Service Bill and advocacy for passage of the Mental Health and substance Bill in the country.
Mental health management became more critical globally within the last two years, largely due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which impacted negatively on the world’s socio-economic and governance order.
But in Nigeria, the pandemic made it more complicated, owing to what many experts described as consistent neglect of the mental healthcare sub-sector by successive administrations in the country.
For instance, even before the outbreak of the pandemic, statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) had indicated that, one in every four Nigerians, an average of 50 million people, were suffering from mental illness.
Obindo stressed that about 60 per cent of Nigerians had been documented to have significant mental illness.
According to him, the development is made worse, as there are less mental health workers such as psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, psychologists and others, in the country, to treat and manage patients.
The president noted that more than half of the number of mental health workers had been attracted to foreign countries.
“We don’t have enough mental health workers in the country and even the few that we have are all being attracted out of the country.
“We have less than 300 psychiatrists. The prescribed number is such that we should have nothing less than 1 to about 10,000 individuals.
“But what we have is 0.4 to about 10,000 individuals, four psychiatrists to 1 million Nigerians. The psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse, psychologist, social worker, as well as the occupational therapist, work as a team. Psychiatric hospitals are also few,” he lamented.
Obindo noted that in addition to the current scarcity of fuel across the country, economic hardship, coupled with the level of insecurity, may likely inflict mental illness to more Nigerians.
“In the last few years, Nigerians have had to deal with issues like kidnapping, attacks and socio-economic downturns among others, and the recent fuel scarcity, forcing an individual to stay on queue for more than three hours to buy fuel even at exorbitant prices, is a major stressor for Nigerians, as stress is a major predisposing factor to mental illness.
“If one’s well-being is affected, such that an individual is not able to realise his potential or finds it difficult to work effectively or contribute to the society and be able to overcome normal stresses of life, then the person cannot be said to be mentally healthy.
“If you look at this and you compare it with what goes on in other climes, you will discover that we have a greater predisposition to developing mental illness,” he explained.
The President urged the government to decriminalise attempted suicide, adding that instead of punishing people who attempt to take their lives, they should be sent for medical attention.
“This bill talks about how to have a humane and globally accepted way of taking care of those who are mentally ill. What should be done is how the government is meant to fund and see to the wellbeing of those who are mentally ill.
“One of the other areas that need to be looked at is the criminal act CAP 237, which criminalises those who attempt to take their lives and that needs to be removed immediately. Those who attempt to take their lives are jailed one year.
“Are we punishing them for being ill, or for the socio-economic problems in the country? No, we shouldn’t. What should be done is that they should be referred for medical attention, a psychiatric assessment.
“Even Ghana and Kenya have decriminalised suicide attempts. We are pleading with the good people of the country and all stakeholders to rise up and see that the ill among us are properly and humanely attended to,” he noted.
He also urged government to speedily pass the mental health bill to protect the right of mentally ill persons in the society, to be treated humanely and with care.
“The Lunacy Act looks at those who are mentally ill as being aggressive, nuisance and someone that needs to be kept in an asylum, away from the community.
“Rather than taking care of those that are mentally ill, the law tends to protect the community against them. Therefore, we felt that that law needed a review.
“As we talk now, the mental health bill has been passed by both the Senate and House of Representatives and has been harmonised and is now before the President for his assent. This has been between 2020 and early 2021,” he said.
Obindo added that about 90 per cent of those who attempted to take their lives are known to have psychiatric problems.
He noted that out of the figure, 80 per cent are as a result of depression. Others he said, are because of the socio-economic conditions in the country. (NAN)
Kaduna State Primary Health Development Agency, (KPHDA) says there is no pending cases of Lassa fever in the state.
Director of public health, Ibrahim Hamza-Ikara, told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Kaduna, that the state has not recorded any Lassa fever cases for the past few weeks.
He added that all suspected cases have been discharged from the hospitals.
“We have not recorded any Lassa fever cases for the past few weeks and all the remaining eight patients have been discharged.
He said the state would continue it’s sensitisation programme on how best to improve hygiene practices to residents.
The News Agency of Nigeria recalls that on February 23, the state recorded four deaths of Lassa fever and three on admission from the 44 Nigerian Army Reference hospital in the state.
Others infected were identified and being closely monitored.
He urged residents to maintain proper food and environmental hygiene and immediately report any suspected cases of Lassa fever to the nearest health facility for prompt attention. (NAN)
From Attah Ede Makurdi
The Benue State Government, on Monday , singed Memorandums of understandings (MOUs) with the Shanghai Haitian Hospital, to facilitate academic and clinical interchange between Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Makurdi.
The partnership according to the MoU, is in the areas of joint studies, training activities, and other educational exchanges of mutual interest.
The government has also entered into partnership with Sinoki System Limited, for the establishment of a Hybrid Solar Panel Factory in Benue State.
Signing the two Memorandums of understandings (MOUs) at the Old Banquet Hall of the Benue State Government House, Makurdi on Monday, Governor Hyacinth Alia said he was excited and optimistic that the partnerships would open many more doors of investments in the State, adding that his administration is willing to welcome more investors into the state.
He described the partnership with the Shanghai Haitian Hospital as an exciting one, saying his administration is determined to improve the overall health sector in the state, thereby discouraging the trend of health tourism to other countries.
“I am quite excited because our administration’s focus is to improve the health sector in the state that will be capable of increasing the lifespan of our people. The Benue State University Teaching Hospital as a partner in this is going to benefit from this collaboration, and it is our hope to discourage our people going overseas on medical tourism. There is nothing wrong in translating the finances spent elsewhere into our system.
“The partnership with the Shanghai Haitian Hospital will open more doors, especially as we also have Tertiary healthcare systems here in the state. Where we inherited total collapse of the healthcare system, we need to put all machinery in place to ensure that beginning from the primary to our tertiary health institutions, there are improvements.”
On the partnership with Sinoki System Company for the establishment of a Hybrid Solar Panel Factory in Benue State, the governor described it as a quick fix to the epileptic power challenge faced in the state, explaining that for every business to thrive, there must be some stability in electricity and he is excited about the partnership.
“The partnership is going to be a plus to the State. The business partnership will bring about the establishment of Hybrid Solar Panel Company in Benue State, through a Private Partnership agreement between the Benue State Government and Sinoki System Limited. We are excited about this because it will open more investment doors in the state.
“As I have mentioned at some other forums, we are a state that is open for business, and we are welcoming investors into our state to come and do business.
“The establishment of the Hybrid solar panel company in the state has come at a time when the electricity situation has been epileptic. But for business to thrive, we definitely need some stability of electricity. This is one quick fix to the anxiety and I am very excited about it,” the governor explained.
He called for more investors to take advantage of the many untapped investment opportunities in the state, promising that government on its part will continue to create the enabling environment for businesses to thrive in the state.
Earlier in his address, the Special Adviser to the Governor on International Investment, Hon. Alex Adingi, while introducing the investors, said the investors have expressed their desire to partner with the state government in the two areas of health and energy for the overall good of the state, been the reason they have come to sign the partnership agreement.
A statement by chief press secretary to Governor Alia, sir Tersoo Kula said William Wang, a Director with the Shanghai Haitian Hospital, represented the Hospital while Liu Hai Ding, represented Sinoki System Limited.
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has reported one death and confirmed 15 new cases of lassa fever within one week across the country.
The NCDC said this in a situation report for week 13 published on its website on Friday.
Reports says that lassa fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic illness transmitted to humans through contact with food or household items contaminated by infected rodents or contaminated persons.
Its symptoms include fever, headache, sore throat, general body weakness, cough, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, muscle pains, chest pain, and, in severe cases, unexplainable bleeding from ears, eyes, nose, mouth and other body openings.
The NCDC noted a decrease in the number of confirmed cases from 25 cases in week 12 to 15 cases in the reporting week, although the number of suspected cases increased compared to the same period in 2023.
Cumulatively, from week one to 13, the country recorded 806 confirmed cases and 150 deaths, with a case fatality rate (CFR) of 18.6 per cent, higher than the CFR for the same period in 2023 (17.5 per cent).
“Twenty-five states have recorded at least one confirmed case across 125 local government areas in 2024.
“Sixty-two per cent of all confirmed cases were recorded from Ondo, Edo, and Bauchi, with Ondo State accounting for 24 per cent, Edo 22 per cent, and Bauchi 16 per cent,” it said.
According to the report, no health worker was infected in the reporting week, and individuals between the ages of 31 and 40 were predominantly affected by the infection.
The NCDC said the National Lassa Fever Multi-partner, Multi-sectoral Incident Management System had been activated to coordinate response at all levels at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).
The NCDC highlighted some challenges in the fight against lassa fever, including the late presentation of cases leading to increased CFR and poor health-seeking behaviour.
It attributed the latter to the high cost of treatment and clinical management of lassa fever, as well as poor environmental sanitation and awareness in high-burden communities. (NAN)
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