World Health Organisation (WHO), Spanish Government and the federal government of Nigeria have entered partnership to ensure stability of mental health among the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the North-east region of the country.
Reports from United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) indicated that 1.7 million persons are internally displaced in the three Boko Haram ravaged states of Borno, Adamawa and Yobe.
WHO estimation shows that one person in every five IDP may need mental health care.
The Medical Consultant to WHO, Dr. Hassan Bala said Monday while addressing the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Cabanas Marcelino, during his routine visit and inspection of work and facilities provided for the mental health programme at the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital Maiduguri.
“Despite this huge demand, the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri, Borno state is the only specialised mental healthcare hospital in North-east region” Bala said.
He however, noted that only 18 per cent of the fully or partially functioning health centres in the state can provide survivors of violence with integrated clinical management services.
Dr. Bala further said that through the WHO mental health Gap Action Programme (MHGAP) , 10 mental health specialists have been engaged and trained with each conducting 10 outreach visits monthly to health facilities in the state.
He said, “WHO has also conducted close to 1,100 mental healthcare outreach sessions in 40 health facilities reaching over 17,000 contacts between October 2017 and September 2018 and referred over 1,500 patients to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Maiduguri for further management and care.”
The Chief Medical Director (CMD) of Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri, Dr. Ibrahim Wakawa expressed appreciation and gratitude to the government and people of Spain for their contributions towards better mental healthcare delivery in Nigeria.
In his remark, the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Cabanas Marcelino said he was impressed with what he saw while promising to consider other areas for inclusion in the partnership that his government could offer more support.
