1. Raising the Bar: Improving Mental Health Care in Africa
Presented by:
AMREF’S Coffeehouse Speakers Series
on global development
Featuring:
Athena Madan PhD

2. Quotable
“Mental health is crucial to the overall well-being of individuals,
societies, and countries.
mhGAP Mental Health Gap Action Programme
Source: http://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap_final_english.pdf

3. Out of Africa, 1985

4. Quotable
There is “no question that several forms of social
disadvantage make people more vulnerable to a
range of mental health problems.”
Vikram Patel, Global Mental Health Expert and Professor at the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Source: http://thinkafricapress.com/health/mental-health-remains-invisible-problem-africa

5. Did you know?
About 30% of the total burden of noncommunicable
diseases is due to mental, neurological, and substance
use (MNS) disorders.
Source: http://www.who.int/mental_health/mhgap_final_english.pdf

6. Quotable
"Everyone is putting their money in HIV, reproductive
health, malaria. They need also to remember these
unfunded priorities like mental health are cross-cutting,
and are also affecting the performance of those other
programmes like HIV and the rest.”
Sheila Ndyanabangi, Director of Mental Health at Uganda's Ministry of Health
Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/98680/rethinking-mental-health-in-africa

7. Quotable
"There are still people who out of stigma label people with
mental illnesses as mad. I don't think we should judge them
for that ... we should [instead] take note of the gap and find
ways to close it. As for raising awareness, I think we are
getting there. We have NGOs, and our community radio
stations are doing their bit in raising awareness.”
Bongile Gongo, nurse at the Mental Health Unit, Khayelitsha Site C Clinic,
South Africa
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201310281658.html

8. Did you know?
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates 75-85 percent
of people with severe mental disorders receive no treatment in
low- and middle-income countries, compared to 35-50 percent
in high-income countries.
Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/98680/rethinking-mental-health-in-africa

9. Quotable
"I think more needs to be done to educate families about
mental illnesses.”
Nothemba Dinga, a social worker from KTC day hospital in Gugulethu
Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/98680/rethinking-mental-health-in-africa

10. Blood Diamond, 2006

11. Did you know?
A study from 2002 states that the average number of
psychiatrists is 9/100,000 population in the European Region
and 0.05/100,000 population in the African Region.
Ahmed Okasha, Mental health in Africa: the role of the
WPA, World Psychiatry (2002)
Source: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1489826/

12. Quotable
"Access (to treatment) is limited to very few. And there is
limited ethical understanding and commitment among
caregivers.”
Seggane Musisi, professor of psychiatry at Makerere University, Uganda
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/psychiatrists-decry-mental-health-care-africa-105405344.html

13. Quotable
The education of the public should be given prominence in
the development of mental health policies in Africa because
many aspects of mental health care require the active
collaboration of the community.
O. Gureje and A.Alem, Mental health policy development
in Africa, World Health Organization, 2000
Source: http://www.who.int/bulletin/archives/78%284%29475.pdf