{"id":3080,"date":"2019-06-14T10:16:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T10:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africasustainabilitymatters.com\/?p=3080"},"modified":"2026-01-11T05:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T05:30:20","slug":"there-is-no-health-without-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/2019\/06\/14\/there-is-no-health-without-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"There Is No Health Without Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\nis no health without mental health. A healthy mind is a necessity for achieving\nsustainable development. The sustainable development goals<\/a>\nunveiled in 2015 served as a second chance to achieving redemption to those\ncountries that had failed to attain most of the millennial development goals.\nIn achieving this goal, health cannot be a subject swept under the rug. Most\nAfrican countries have made progress in bettering physical health care of the\ncountry\u2019s people but in most cases, mental health has been long forgotten.\nMental health is not an easy topic such that most illnesses such as depression\nlack a name in most native languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collins\nChitai is a mental health advocate and a member of the Kenya Psychiatry\nAssociation. He sheds more light on this alien topic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

State\nof mental health awareness among Kenyans so far?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a range of good to poor, I would say poor. This is because mental health has not been given the priority it deserves. The number of mental health professionals in the country is few and the sick are continually stigmatized in the environments they live in whereas 80% of the population ages 19-34 suffer from mental health illnesses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\ndo you think contributes to this?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

access to mental health is\nexpensive in the country and very few can afford it. Most patients are\nstigmatized and people run away from them including family members as mental\nhealth is still a taboo in some parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any\nprominent cases of mental health in the country?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suicides rates in the\ncountry are becoming extreme. They have not been attributed to mental health\nbut no healthy mind can actually do that. Taking a close look at things mental\nillness plays a role. Poverty and stigmatization play a role in instilling\nmental issues yet nothing is done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmost affected population age when it comes to mental illnesses?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

14-39 years harbours the population with the most incidences of mental health. This population mostly suffers stress-related problems which is a mental illness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any policies by the government to regulate the cost of mental health?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a policy that Kenya\npsychiatrists are looking up to which has not yet been implemented. It only\nexists on paper. The psychiatrists appealed to the ministry of health but are\nyet to receive any feedback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Challenges\nfaced by mental health professionals?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a case at Mathari hospital. The professionals were complaining of a lack of support from the government on mental health. Some have to dig deep into their pockets so as to help the patients. They are forced to purchase hospital equipment. The number of mental health is dismal as well making the few professionals overwhelmed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Access to mental health is expensive in the country and very few can afford it. Most are stigmatized and people run away from them including family members <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nyour opinion how can we spread awareness to the grass root levels<\/strong>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government must collaborate with the professionals for there to be a link and cohesion to allow transition and see the way forward in seeing the training of professionals at the grass root level. The media should also be incorporated in spreading awareness so as to reduce stigmatization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How best can mental health patients be handled by caregivers? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They need to be treated as patients with any other illnesses. Mental health caregivers should also speak out to reduce stigmatization.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is no health without mental health. A healthy mind is a necessity for achieving sustainable development. The sustainable development goals unveiled in 2015 served as a second chance to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3081,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[102,111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interviews","category-social-responsibility"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rayscohosting.best\/ASM\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}