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Momodou
Denmark
11828 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Nov 2009 : 19:21:33
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Daily News Editorial:
Our Streets Should be Cleared of Mentally Imbalance Persons
The Jamburr murder case of Thursday 28th October 2009 is the second in less than two weeks. Some two weeks ago a watchman was said to be killed by some one who is believed to be mentally imbalanced, and last week another person lost her life, again to a mentally imbalanced person if the words of an eyewitness are any thing to go by. These are not the only cases involving people who are considered to have some form of mental problems. It has happened several times, be it in the city or in the rural settlements.
Considering the number of mental cases we have in the Gambia these days it is only safe that the authorities try to do all they can to fine a solution to the kind of case that happened in Jamburr in the Kombo South last week. The streets of Serekunda and those of Banjul are places where our mentally imbalanced people are most visible. Most of the time they look harmless and could be seen walking in and about. These are people who can turn wild at any time in their life, and what would happen if such a twist happens as in the case of the watchman who was murdered in cold blood.
Yes the authorities can be commended for the extra efforts they have put into our only mental home, which used to be at Campama but now moved to some where in Brufut with much better facilities. However there is much to be done as more mentally imbalanced people are in the streets than those confined to our only mental home.
One cannot hold the authorities wholly responsible for the unfortunate killings of our people, but the community also has a responsibility in relation to the vulnerability of members of our community at large. If a family member is mentally imbalanced he or she should not be ignored, as that can aggravate the patient’s condition. They should be shown love, care and respect. In a situation where the patient’s condition worsens or he or she becomes wild to an extent that some other people’s lives are at risk the family members should seek assistance from the authorities, so that the sick person can be confined so that he or she does not harm others. In the past our mentally ill people were put under control by locking them up in huts in the middle of our homes: though we are not calling for such cruel treatment of our sick, since drugs are available the attention of the authorities must be drawn to this menace.
The case of Jambur where Adama Jatta was beheaded, the blame cannot be put on the police or any other government authorities squarely. We want to believe that the members of the community of Jambur should have acted in time. We were told that the late Adama was chased at one time. It was also reported that the women folk of Jamburr were chased by the suspect, Sulayman Ceesay sometime in the past. Why didn’t the members of the community report this to the police in the spirit of community policing.
The members of the community should take control of their own security, especially in situations where the life of the children and women are at risk. As the saying goes every good citizen is a police officer. The accused person who is a non Gambian for that matter could have been better handled by members of the Jambur community.
We therefore called on the authorities to seriously look into the status of our mentally ill persons who have no permanent homes and stay anywhere and sleep anywhere nightfall finds them. These are people who could go wild anytime anywhere. They should also be treated with love and care because they are sick. Mental illness is like any other ailment, so the patients should enjoy love and care too.
Source: The Daily News
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 05 Nov 2009 : 19:42:49
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Momodou, thanks for posting this report,the last paragraph is that of Utopia and not of The Gambia a poor country with only one hospital to "treat" the mentally ill,I remember not such a long time ago maybe 3 years or something like that that there was an outcry by staff who worked at Campama because they had no drugs to give patients,have things improved at "the mental home, which used to be at Campama but now moved to some where in Brufut with much better facilities" and report on what treatment and care is like there?
I would like to think that the Daily news could visit "Yes the authorities can be commended for the extra efforts they have put into our only mental home, which used to be at Campama but now moved to some where in Brufut with much better facilities" and report on what they find there at present.Many people who have relatives that need secure care in hospital cannot pay this extra burden,they have hardly enough to survive themselves,some mentally ill persons will be thrown out and have to fend for themselves.I personally do not know of any NGO or Charity in The Gambia who is "helping" maybe there are some.
Mental illness is in some places thought to be caused by an evil spirit.
I know its from Wikipedia
Just to save you searching about the word Utopia.
Utopia is a name for an ideal community or society, that is taken from Of the Best State of a Republic, and of the New Island Utopia, a book written in 1516 by Sir Thomas More describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean, possessing a seemingly perfect socio-politico-legal system. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempted to create an ideal society, and fictional societies portrayed in literature. "Utopia" is sometimes used pejoratively, in reference to an unrealistic ideal that is impossible to achieve. |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 05 Nov 2009 19:51:31 |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 06 Nov 2009 : 12:38:06
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Nigeria also is aware of the mentally ill:
Nigeria: A Reward For Caring For the Mentally Challenged
Mary Ekah
5 November 2009
Lagos — As World Mental Health Day was marked around the world recently, individuals and organisations in Nigeria were also advocating for support for the mentally ill. A woman who is passionately on the move to rid the Nigerian society of mentally ill persons was as usual acknowledged for her efforts as she was crowned the Queen of the Downtrodden."
The definition of health is not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, but a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. It is estimated that at least 25 millions Nigerians suffer one form of treatable mental health condition or the order, which in most cases result in severe mental illness. The causes of mental disorder, particularly in Nigeria vary, but some of the common causes include the fact that Nigerians go through a lot of stress in trying to make ends meet. So it would be right to say that living in Nigeria alone is enough stress to get one mentally ill. Poverty is another issue. People tend to worry a lot about their daily needs, they get unhappy when they cannot do what they want to do or they are poor and cannot afford to get one thing or the other and so they break down mentally.
Substance abuse is another problem in many communities, across the counter drugs and even the drugs on the streets also contribute to mental disorder. The lost of a loved one and break in a relationship can also cause mental break down. Mental illness therefore is an infirmity that can happen to any body, so no one is immune.
It is, however, believed that provision of treatment at the primary healthcare level may have addressed some of these mild cases and some of these mild cases may have been controlled and risks of re-occurrences may have reduced if provision for mental health care was made available at the primary healthcare level.
The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had during the recently World Mental Health Day celebration, said that mental disorders contribute to more disease burden and disability in developing countries than any other category of non-communicable disease and yet only a small minority of people with mental disorders in these countries have access to mental health services. The truth, however, is that there are effective treatments for most mental disorders, yet they are widely unavailable in the healthcare services just as it is around the world.
It was therefore for this reason that the World Mental Health Day's awareness campaign's current focus, "Mental Health in Primary Care: Enhancing Treatment and Promoting Mental Health," was said to be geared towards making mental health issues a global priority. The theme for this year was thought to be timely as it brought to the fore the need to incorporate mental health in primary healthcare, especially in the developing nations, and highlighting the need for a concerted effort to meet the challenges fostered by underdevelopment in many nations of the world.
Just as the campaign was being carried out around the world, few concerned Nigerians, through various activities were also advocating for the Federal Government to incorporate mental health into the primary healthcare practice in the country.
"We are hopping that we would through the activities during this mental health day draw attention of policy makers to train primary care givers and general practitioners on being able to identify mental health disorder. And probably affordable medication can begin to be made available at such level and if possible at subsidised rate, so that people who need this medication can have access to treatment when necessary.
"And if things are actually put in place, we would also be reducing the stigma," Dr. Yewande Oshodi, a consultant psychiatrist with Lagos University Teaching Hospital and lecturer at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos said during the Mental Health Information Network and Development (MIND) Trust annual lecture in Lagos.
The attempts by the Federal Government to incorporate mental health into primary healthcare practice in the country, Oshodi said has failed because there has not been active community participation on the execution.
"You need to carry along members of the community for the sustenance of primary healthcare because they are involved and this is about bringing the mentally ill members of the community to the first point of care. So they need to be incorporated and carried along for its sustainability and success. Because that aspect of primary healthcare has not been given enough recognition, the incorporation of our mental healthcare into our primary health service has failed," she noted further.
Oshodi said the MIND Trust annual health promotion lecture was a way of commemorating the world mental health day, noting: "We feel that if we should create awareness on mental health issues and encourage people to begin to seek help at the primary care level, we may be assisting in reducing the burden of mental health disorder."
She said what she was advocating for was for one to be able to identify the first signs of mental stress or distress, which could start with poor sleep, lost of appetite, reduced energy, and lack of interest in previously enjoyed activities, persistence worries and anxieties. These, Oshodi said, are pointers that a person needs help, adding that when these things are identified, treatment should be sourced as quickly as possible and it should start from the primary healthcare.
Oshodi and the UN Secretary-General, is no lone-ranger on this advocacy as they also had the National Coordinator, Society for the Safety of the Insane and Destitute (SO-SAID), Mrs. Concern Felicia Martins, amongst others, supporting their views.
For the SO-SAID National Coordinator, mental illness is a nervous break down that can happen to anybody. This comes through stress, when people cannot forget their past and when one overlabours for something. All these she said, may bring about nervous break down, noting that there are different level of nervous break down which can happen to anybody at any time, no matter the status. The common man, she said however, might suffer most because of poverty, broken homes and excessive stress.
Martins in her continued effort to build an insane and destitute free community, has received countless awards for her extra-ordinary work. A lot of people and organisations have come to recognise her contribute to the development of the society and as such awarded her with a lot of titles and plagues with the very recent one that had her crowned as the "Queen of the Down Trodden".
Before now, she has been given awards by various organisations, churches and individuals like the Ajeromi Community, Genevieve Magazine, Moment with Mo, Obah Olive, Christ Church and of course the very recent one, "Queen of the Down Trodden" bestowed on her on the World Mental Health Day by the Community Partners, an organisation, which also has some of her former inmate as members. On that day, Martins was decked from head to toe in green and white attire, the colour of the national flag. This, she said signifies that the crown was not just for her, but also for the nation as a whole.
As she proudly displayed her plague, Martins' mind still went for the destitute on the streets as she called on government to focus more attention on the destitute. "I want to tell government that it is high time we began to think of how to deal with the insane and destitute. How do we re-brand Nigeria when destitute litter the streets?" On this note, SO-SAID during the World Mental Health Day, embarked on a walk to the Isolo local government to create awareness on the need for government to participate in building a destitute and insane free nation.
Martins further called on the First Ladies of states and the federal levels to endevour to visit homes of destitute, a place where their attention is mostly needed rather than wasting their resource on mundane things. "For instance we have found two plots of land in Ago Palace, Okota Lagos for N5 million but we do not have the money to pay for it even when we are at the moment in dire need of space. Who would be used to pay for the land? For ten years we are still in a rented apartment that could barely contain the inmates. So we want the first ladies of every state in Nigeria to come our aid", implored a woman who has been faced with so much challenge in seeing to it that her dream of getting the insane back to a normal state is fulfilled.
Martins who stressed that drugs should be provided for mentally ill people who cannot afford the money, feels Nigerians have not come to terms on the aspect of relating with people who have metal disorder.
She noted that in developing countries like Nigeria, the emphasis of the primary care has been geared mostly towards maternal and child care and infectious diseases, ignoring the mentally ill people.
Observing that mental health services offered to the populace at the primary care level is minimal; Martins advised that government should be committed to the delivering of adequate mental health care at the primary care level. She added further that there was a need to educate the populace on the nature of mental illnesses, to ensure there were availability of effective treatment and the provision of adequate facilities as well as resources.
Considering the increasing rate of mental disorder in the country, and the implications for socio-political and economic well-being, Martins advised further that government should raise the level of concern about mental health policy. She therefore called on government to see the urgent need to take a look at the mental Health Bill, which has been with the National Assembly for many years.
Copyright © 2009 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com).
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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