With fewer than 200 psychiatrists serving over 200 million citizens, the situation underscores the urgent need for systemic reform and investment in mental health infrastructure.
At the 55th Annual General Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria (APN) held in Ilorin, APN President Prof. Taiwo Obindo attributed this crisis to the "japa syndrome" — a term referring to the mass migration of professionals to other countries in search of better opportunities.
This exodus exacerbates the existing challenges in a nation grappling with an underfunded healthcare system and rising mental health issues.
The conference, themed "Prioritising Mental Health Needs of Nigeria in a Depressed Economy: An Urgent Call for Integrated, Comprehensive and Sustainable Interventions," called attention to the pressing need for comprehensive solutions.
These would include increase funding, training more mental health professionals, improving working conditions, and fostering public awareness of mental health issues.
He lamented that these tides need to be stemmed and reversed as the remaining mental health practitioners were overworked and poorly remunerated.
Obindo stated that mental health was yet to be accorded the needed attention by the government and cited Canada as an example, which had a functional Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.
According to him, Nigeria needs to lay emphasis and importance on mental health.
“Mental health in Nigeria is still a programme under the Department of Public Health in the Federal Ministry of Health.
“One other area needing attention is the budgetary allocation to health, and by extension, mental health, which is less than six per cent.
“This falls short of the Abuja Declaration of 2001, where health allocation was to be pegged at a minimum of 15 per cent of every country’s annual budget,” he said.
The APN president said the association had achieved some milestones in the establishment of Mental Health Programme.
He called for the implementation of the Mental Health Act of 2021, which replaced the Lunacy Act of 1958.
This, Obindo said, was a significant milestone after more than 30 years of failed efforts.
In his Lecture, Prof. Owoidoho Udofia, of the University of Calabar, who was the Guest Speaker at the occasion said: “study showed 12 per cent of Nigerians have mental and behavioural disorder”.
He asserted that certain characteristics in some medical practitioners was responsible for poor identification of mental illness.
Udofia also observed that certain presence of culture specific somatic symptoms, significantly lowered identification rate of mental illness by General practitioners in teaching hospitals.
The Consultant Psychiatrist dismissed the assumption by colonialists that Africans were not sophisticated enough to have depression.
“Mental illness makes up less than 30 per cent of the burden in teaching hospitals in Nigeria,.
“The illness is not only restricted to Schizophrenia and Psychosis. Substance use is high and there is need to improve diagnosis.
“There is also need to imrpove on the rates, as there is poor identification and research,” he advised.
In her goodwill message, Dr Amina El-Imam, the Kwara Commissioner for Health, described the theme of the conference as a critical discuss.
The commissioner, who was represented by Dr. Musiliu Odunaiya, the Director Medical Services and Training, said that the society had surrounded the issue of mental health with myths and stigma.
She advised psychiatrists to produce more awareness campaign on mental health to reduce stigma in the country.
Earlier in his welcome address, Prof. Peter Ajiboye, the Chairman of the Local Organising Committee (LOC), said the theme of the conference reflects the collective recognition of the urgent need for tailored mental health solutions in Nigeria. (NAN)
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