Foundation Calls For Domestication, Implementation Of Mental Health Act In States
Amudo Integrated Community Mental Health Foundation, on Tuesday called on state governments to domesticate and implement the Mental Health Act to strengthen the awareness campaign on mental health.
Rev. Kenneth Nwaubani, the Director of the Foundation, made the call during an interaction with newsmen on Tuesday in Umuahia, in commemoration of the 2023 World Mental Health Day, with the theme “Mental Health Is A Universal Human Right”.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that World Mental Health Day is a WHO celebration which is commemorated on October 10 of every year to raise awareness about mental health issues.
NAN also reports that the Nigerian National Mental Health Act was passed into law by the National Assembly on December 3, 2020, and assented by former President Mohammadu Buhari on December 28, 2022.
The director described mental health as a fundamental right of the citizens, and therefore raises the need for prompt domestication and effective implementation of the Act by state governments.
Nwaubani said that this year’s celebration has provided another opportunity for mental health-related issues, especially with respect to accessing mental healthcare services, to be placed in the front burner.
Nwaubani urged stakeholders in the health sector to partner with the state governments in ensure that the Act would be successfully domesticated and implemented across the country.
He said: “The Nigerian Mental Health sector is doing a lot to engage the federal ministry of health and other partners so that the operationalization of that Act would become a reality.
“We know that it is one thing to assent to a bill, it is another thing to make it functional.
“It is also the same government that would meet the fundamentals of that Act and make it workable because the bill has to do with funding,reviving the mental health system in Nigeria and policy drive.
“So we are engaging other stakeholders to see what we can do so that the law would become operational both within the federal level and across the states. Once we achieve federal compliance, states can proceed with domestication”.
Nwaubani said that the escalating mental health crisis in Nigeria had become worrisome with one out of every seven persons at risk of developing mental health issues.
He stressed the need to empower government agencies responsible for regulating drug use to prevent access to drugs, particularly among the youths.
Nwaubani said that the society was rife with neglected mentally-ill persons and several cases of discrimination against individuals with mental health challenges.
Nwaubani said that the foundation was actively working to raise awareness about mental health issues in order to address the various misconceptions that encourage stigmatisation of mentally ill persons in the society.
He said that he was optimistic that the efforts made by the Foundation would pay off and encourage the use of a human rights-based approach to mental healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
Nwaubani, further, called on relevant agencies to integrate mental health services in the list of services available at the various primary healthcare centres across the country.
“The WHO has said that non discrimination is the key to enforcement of our fundamental human rights so we are trying to address the issues of neglect, abuse, non access to mental health facilities.
“Persons with mental health challenges have the right to family, the right to society, marriage, work and a right to health and of course mental health which we are saying today is their universal right”.
“The agencies that have to do with the control of drugs in Nigeria such as NAFDAC and NDLEA have to be strengthened so that they can curtail access to drugs by young people. We have to embark on orientation of our young population.
“We are reducing Nigeria to a high population of people who have mental health problems because if about 30 million Nigerians have mental health problem, it is a country of mentally-ill people.
“We have a lot of work to do in Nigeria when it comes to social values and mental health,” Nwaubani added.