World Mental Health Month: Turning talk into treatment

World Mental Health Month: Turning talk into treatment (Photo: iStock) World Mental Health Month is observed in May, with a variety of activities aimed at raising awareness of mental health issues around the world. This year's theme is 'Turning Awareness into Action'. While this clarion call is important, I cannot help but note that, in the Kenyan and African context, we are far from achieving the level of awareness required to take meaningful action. Mental, neurological and substance use disorders continue to suffer abject neglect, with minimal resources made available in terms of infrastructure, human resources, and access to modern, affordable, and efficacious medication. To put this into perspective, Africa is in dire need of mental health professionals, like psychiatrists, psychologists, addiction counsellors, psychiatric nurses, and other experts. For example, the specialist medical practitioners currently available only cover 11.5 per cent of the needs according to requirements, and psychologists cover about 10.5 per cent of the need. This is much lower than the WHO minimum density of health workers, which is 4.45 per 1000 people, whereas Africa has about 1.55 health workers per 1000 individuals overall. The Kenyan government has made concerted efforts in a bid to create a policy framework that aims to transform the mental health sub-sector. The government has developed the Kenya Mental Health Policy (2015-2030), the Kenya Mental Health Action Plan (2021-2025), and recently, the national guidelines for workplace mental wellness 2023, which provide frameworks for mental health reforms, awareness creation, and advocacy. These documents emphasise the need for investment, resource planning, and the integration of mental health into the broader health system. However, the actual implementation has been slow due to a lack of commensurate allocation in terms of financial and other resources. An estimated 25 per cent of Kenyans suffer from mental disorders in their lifetime, and 1 in 10 at any given time. However, mental health disorders are typically ignored, stigmatised, or misunderstood, and thus underreported and unsupported. Stigma and misconceptions remain significant barriers and most do not become aware of mental illness until tragic outcomes such as suicide or homicide result. On a brighter note, public education campaigns, media outreach, school initiatives, and community-based programs have been intensified by the government, private institutions, and NGOs. These have begun training groups to recognise symptoms of mental illness and provide support. There are also calls for making mental health awareness weeks in institutions and introducing mental health education in schools. There is a need to promote mental health literacy and decrease stigma by launching long-term, national public education campaigns, to strengthen community-based mental health promotion and prevention by establishing multi-sectoral mental health programs at national and county levels, and to increase access to quality, integrated mental health care by deconcentrating mental health services through integrating it into primary health care and community health centers to render them more accessible. Improving policy implementation and coordination to make sure county and national governments develop and implement annual mental health plans with increasingly enhanced budget allocations will go a long way too.Finally, we should leverage technology and innovation through the use of technology such as mobile apps in early detection and prevention of depression and suicide, especially among young people.

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