Improving mental health care will reduce suicides

There are many people suffering from depression who lack access to medical facilities. FILE 

By Edward Omete

Dr Lukoye Atwoli’s column in the Sunday Nation last weekend dwelt on suicide amongst people struggling with mental health issues.

Rising cases of suicides in Kenya and homicides in the West have been linked to mental breakdown. All these point to a more serious global problem and points to the failure to recognise friends and family members suffering mentally.

According to a recent article published in the New England Journal of Medicine, there are few mental health service providers globally due to few incentives given to attract and retain them in the sector.

A study carried out showed that mental health patients experienced difficulties in accessing psychiatrists; this surprisingly in the West where physician to patient ratios are better than in developing nations like Kenya.

The World Health Organisation statistics indicate than 1 in every 10 patients currently suffer from a mental or behavioural illness. In the next decade, this figure is expected to rise by five per cent.

Most people assume they are mentally fit, however chances are that at some point in your lifetime you may need the services of a psychiatrist.

In work places or education institutions we know at least one person who is afflicted. These range from those with alcohol and gambling addiction, depressed students, business people with mental anguish from struggling businesses, teenagers and couples fighting emotional and relationship issues and even patients with terminal and incurable conditions just to mention but a few.

Despite these high numbers, the reality on the ground is that there is an imbalance between our current needs versus resource allocation.

While the medical school curriculum puts emphasis on behavioural and mental health issues (at least in my alma mater it accounted for up to 1/5 of a doctor’s class work), the resources present are not in the same ratio. Allocation for mental healthcare expenditure is almost negligible.

The number of health facilities staffed and equipped adequately to handle patients with such need is as bad as 800:1.

 

The blame partly lies in us —our traditional “stereotyping” of mental illness as either being caused by witchcraft, acts of gods or “being soft”.

Our cultures also make us shy away from accepting depression, misery and associated symptoms as illnesses and instead view them as weaknesses.

Because many mental health disorders evolve slowly and are not immediately life threatening, they are often ignored when telltale signs start

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However, in the long term their fatalities either through suicide or homicides are always higher.

It is time for the county health secretaries to address this by laying emphasis on budgetary allocations to cater for such patients. In my county, for instance, the number of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurses or even public facilities offering such care is depressing.

An alternative approach would be to give incentives to entrepreneurs to invest in mental healthcare. The government can also provide funds for equipment or offer subsidies on buildings.