The World Health Organisation (WHO) in partnership with the Yobe state government is to train 70 health workers on mental health. The training was to close identified gaps at the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) in 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
While declaring the workers’ training open Tuesday in Damaturu, the WHO Emergency Manager in Northeast, Dr. Richard Lako, disclosed: “Low investments in mental healthcare has led to rise in mental disorders in the last two decades,” noting that gaps in mental healthcare are a global health issue. Lako, who was represented by Mental Health Officer Samuel Tarfa, said that there is low investment by low and middle income countries. “Less than two per cent of healthcare budgets are allocated to mental healthcare,” lamenting that it is grossly inadequate to address mental disorders in communities.
On rising cases of mental disorders, he noted that there is a high burden of patients requiring mental healthcare and management. According to him, most of the mental health patients do not receive quality or evidence based healthcare. He said this informed the global health organisation to support the state government training 70 healthcare workers on mental health. “This gap could be bridged by scaling up the delivery of mental healthcare to people,” he said.
The Commissioner of Health, who was represented by the Director, Nursing Services in the Ministry, Abdullahi Danchuwa, said that the training is inevitable to avert any mental disorder and traumas among the people. He said the training will also help health workers identify mental health cases at the entry point. According to him, they could manage it accordingly or refer where the cases are beyond their capacity. The trainees have been having a lot of challenges identifying and managing cases of mental health, but with training, they are better equipped.
