The President, Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN), Prof. Taiwo Obindo has disclosed that over 60 million Nigerians are suffering from mental illnesses.
Obindo, who is also the Chairman, Faculty of Psychiatry, West African College of Physicians, Nigeria Chapter said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.
“Mental healthcare is in a sorry state given that we have more than 60 million Nigerians suffering from various mental illnesses and the fact is that only about 10 per cent of them were able to access appropriate care."
“We are left with more than 90 per cent who are unable to access care and this group is called the treatment gap for mental illnesses,” Obindo said.
He said that the gap was as a result of various factors like the knowledge gap in which people lacked appropriate information about the causes and treatment for mental illnesses.
Obindo stated that some factors hindering the management of mental illness in Nigeria included myths and traditional beliefs; inadequate mental health facilities and number of mental health professionals.
According to him, the few available mental health facilities were located in the city centres.
“Knowing that 60 per cent of Nigerians live in the rural areas, they do not have access to appropriate care and have to travel long distances to access facilities,” Obindo added.
He stated that the number of mental health practitioners is low as it fell below the ratio recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), adding that the few trained professionals are eager to leave the country.
“The environment in which we practice, the security situation and the remuneration that people were given in the country tend to push them out, as well as the pull factor from the developed countries where they tend to poach on the already trained medical practitioners in the country, particularly the psychiatrists,” he said.
Obindo stated that the cost of hiring practitioners in low medium income countries was low; so ”it was easier for developed countries to poach the already made products rather than training such professional locally.”
He said there is the need for Nigeria to implement the Mental Health Policy on the practice of psychiatry, noting that though the document was reviewed in 2013, but it's yet to be implemented.
The president stated that one major component of the policy was the integration of mental health into primary healthcare, which is yet to be achieved after nine years.
Obindo added that the law operational in the country is the “lunacy act”, which was first enacted in 1916 and reviewed in 1958.
“The Mental Health Bill by the mental health stakeholders led by the Association of Psychiatrists of Nigeria (APN), in conjunction with the National Assembly and the Ministry of Health is yet to be assented to by the President, which is the most recent effort in 30 years,” he concluded.
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