*Inaugurates National Technical Working Group to speed up implementation of policies
*To train 120,000 frontline health workers
As UN Deputy Secretary-General decries rising cases of suicide in Nigeria
The Federal Government has launched the National Mental Health Policy 2023 and National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework 2023–2030. At the same event, the National Mental Health Technical Working Group, charged with the responsibility of reducing the prevalence of suicide and mental health conditions in the country, was inaugurated.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate launched the documents during a Ministerial Round Table on Mental Health in Abuja with the theme, “Achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for Mental Health in Nigeria”.
The Honourable Minister said, “The National Council on Health approved these documents. The laws have been upgraded to mainstream mental health and prioritize it, make it have different levels and bring all stakeholders together to have better quality preventive, curative and rehabilitative interventions to improve their mental health and wellbeing, which is consistent with the administration” ‘s policy priorities,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed, has decried the rising cases of suicide in Nigeria and the world in general and stressed the need to stop stigmatization and discrimination while encouraging those affected to seek mental health support.
Mohammed lamented that more than 700,000 people end their own lives every year globally, noting that the tragedy has a devastating impact on families, friends and relatives.
She said, ‘Mental health conditions and suicide is unfortunately on the rise in Nigeria and around the world. We must raise mental health conversations; open dialogue is crucial to stop stigma and foster understanding.
“Encouraging open discussions can create a supportive environment for those suffering in silence. Effective leadership is also crucial for communities to contribute by considering their local needs and priorities to develop community-based services for mental health and suicide prevention.”
Mohammed observed that mental health is a fundamental human right and is crucial to personal, community and social well-being, adding that by launching the National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework and the National Mental Health Policy, Nigeria is leading an action and committing to a health care system.
Also speaking, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted that the stigma and discrimination around suicide and mental health are significant contributors to people not seeking the health services they need.
Tedros, who commended Nigeria’s response to mental health despite the humanitarian emergency in the North East in the past ten years, added that Nigeria’s National Suicide Prevention Strategic Framework represents significant steps in reducing stigma and suicide rates by training health workers in mental health and suicide prevention and integrate mental health services into the Primary Health Care programmes.
The WHO Chief stressed the need to translate policies to deliver concrete benefits for the people, communities and countries, adding that WHO remains committed to supporting Nigeria to ensure better mental health for all Nigerians because there is no health without mental health.
On her part, the founder of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, Mrs. Toyin Saraki, stressed the need to prioritize interventions in mental health to achieve the SDG Goal 3 target.
A psychiatrist and keynote speaker, Lateef Sheikh, noted that Nigeria had less than 300 practising psychiatrists to cater for the mental health needs of the huge population.
Sheikh, therefore, recommended the implementation of government instruments like policies, strategic plans and legislation to address mental health challenges in the country.
He stressed the need for an integrated and comprehensive care package, mental health financing, data mining and finance to address mental health in the country.
Earlier, the Director of Public Health in the Federal Ministry of Health, Chukwuka Anyaike, said that those plans had been concluded to train 120,000 frontline health workers in primary healthcare centres (PHCs) nationwide.
Anyaike stated that in line with the government’s agenda for the sector, being the first point of call, the PHCs in every ward across the country, the government is determined to make them serve their primary purpose.
“For all the diseases that form the component of primary healthcare, we are going to develop an integrated training protocol for the healthcare workers at the primary healthcare centre so that any health personnel at the PHC should be able to handle mental health, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, viral hepatitis and diarrhoea. You know all the diseases entities that had to do immunization protecting women of reproductive age and children.”
