Thirty five countries and international organisations have pledged to fight for “mental health and psycho-social support” for people affected in global armed conflicts, natural disasters and other emergencies. About 1.54 billion victims from the affected countries have already developed mental health conditions for emergency aid, treatments and rehabilitation. Countries that endorsed the Amsterdam Conference Declaration (ACOD) last week; include six African countries of Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Burundi, Liberia and Uganda without Nigeria that rejected the invitation to attend the international conference on Mental Health and Psycho-social Support (MHPSS) in crisis situations. The rejection, according to the Netherlands Embassy in Abuja, could lead to several lost opportunities and means to address “mental illness and psycho-social traumas” among 1.7 million displaced persons in camps and host communities in northeast Nigeria.
The northeast region affected by Boko Haram insurgency for over a decade, included Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states. Over 7.7 million people from the region; are in need of mental health and psychosocial support, because of traumas and displacements from their ancestral homes. Other countries that cashed in on MHPSS declaration, include Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Netherlands, the Palestinian territory, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and Yemen. International organisations and unions that also made declarations on mental health comprise; the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), ICRC, IFRC, IFRC, IOM, OECD, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNOCHA and the World Health Organisation (WHO). Ministers and high level representatives from countries and international organizations convened yesterday to address the importance of addressing the mental health and psycho-social support needs of people affected by emergency situations and protracted crises.
They also recognized the urgency of addressing these needs in all sectors of humanitarian action/response with the aim of individual and collective recovery. However, they noted that the right to the highest attainable standard of health as part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948; the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which was opened for signature in 2007. They further recall the Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit of 9 and 10 October 2018 in London and the Global Declaration on Achieving Equality for Mental Health in 21st Century; that was adopted during that Summit. The Amsterdam Declaration also underlined the right for everyone to enjoy the highest standard of physical and mental health. Meanwhile, the Netherlands and the WHO signed an agreement on developing a proven, standard package of MHPSS services and tools. It is to be implemented initially in five countries (without Nigeria) and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pledged 5.7 million euros (N22.5 billion) of funding the mental health project.