Felix Nyamedor, Accra City Community Manager
The issue of mental health stigmatization in Accra is of great concern to individuals, families, civil society groups, and many religious bodies. There is stigmatization about the condition, stigmatization concerning the persons with the condition, and stigma is also attached to the people who work in the area of mental illness. These concerns affect the resources and quality of life of the mentally challenged. In addition, its economic and social impact on the person, the family, and the workers are enormous.
In Accra, mental health patients are confined to specific institutions such as Pantang Hospital and Accra Psychiatric Hospital, among others. It is common to see mental health patients with tattered clothes, looking poor, dirty, hungry, neglected, isolated, and some are sometimes even lynched.
The stigma associated with mental health issues stresses some family members, who then fail to associate with such patients even after treatment, making their integration into their families very problematic. Some relatives ultimately abandon their family member in state institutions in order to limit the negative perceptions others will have towards them.
Ghana’s Mental Health Bill, which seeks to increase the rights of the mentally challenged, was passed in 2012. Unfortunately, the provisions made in the Bill have not been fully implemented. Plans are in place at the Ministry of Health to form a permanent board to address issues concerning mental illness stigmatization in the country. In the absence of government action, the mental health advocacy group For All Africa Foundation (FAAF) is pushing to change societal perceptions of persons with mental disorders through education. FAAF’s work includes a variety of different approaches aimed at changing the major structural and attitudinal barriers to achieving positive mental health outcomes in Accra. In addition, it critiques actions of Ghana’s government and encourages policy makers to improve services and treatment of the mentally ill. The Accra Psychiatric Hospital, spearheaded by Dr. Akwasi Osei, has embarked on an integration process of the inmates back to their families. Working together with the Kintampo Health Research Institute, they have also introduced helpers into the communities to educate residents about mental health stigmatization. This process has helped to lessen the level of stigmatization in Accra, and families have been increasingly encouraged to accept and care for patients.
The Mental Health Society of Ghana is an organization that works to educate and advocate for the needs of people with mental health concerns in Ghana. It aims to represent the mentally ill in a unified organization, to protect their rights and wellbeing, and to reduce society’s stigmatization through advocacy projects.
Support for the eradication of mental illness stigmatization through proper education and institutional capacity-building for mental health institutions can go a long way to change the lives of the mentally ill.