The World Health Organisation (WHO) in collaboration with Federal
Neuro Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH), Maiduguri; develops a mental health
framework in Borno state.
Implementation of 2019-2021 framework; was to ‘address and provide’
mental disorders and psycho-social support to 650,000 Internally
Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps and host communities in Northeast.
The decade long conflict affected Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states; with
the loss of about 37.000 lives and $9 billion (N3.42 trillion) worth
of property.
WHO’s North-East Emergency Manager; Dr. Collins Owili disclosed this
in a 2016-209 Report titled: “Saving Millions of Lives in Northeast
Nigeria.
He said with the prevalence of mental illness among Nigerians
estimated 24.44 million (12.1%) over 650,000 IDPs in Northeast may
suffer one or another form of mental disorder.
According to him; “This is even more worrisome in the emergency
context of the region with very few mental health professionals.
He added that there is high incident rate of gender based violence in
the affected conflict states.
He said after training 70 health workers, they are to manage over 750
inpatients for a month, while over 1, 300 received outpatient
treatment and follow up care.
He further disclosed that 2, 500 mental health patients were referred
to Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri between October 2017
and October 2018.
He said during the same period, there were consultation of over 44,
000 patients during 1,960 mental health sessions.
“There were also provisions of specialized mental health care at
primary health care level with strong referral linkage to
neuropsychiatric hospital, Maiduguri.
Owili listed challenges of delivering mental healthcare services to
include inadequate mental health specialists in region, lack of
funding and rehabilitation support for patients that stopped drug and
substance abuses.
While lamenting on inadequate mental healthcare services, he said:
“There were no funds for the expansion of mental health programmes in
Adamawa and Yobe states.”
The former WHO representative, Dr. Wondimagegnehu Alemu also said: “In
a humanitarian crisis, mental health is often neglected because the
focus is on saving lives due to preventable infections and malaria.
“But WHO has made mental healthcare one of its topmost priorities in
north-eastern Nigeria.”
