At least, 116 million people have been estimated to be living with mental health conditions in the African Region, the World Health Organisation, WHO has said.
The global health body while lamenting inadequate financing for mental health issues in Africa said, there are fewer than two mental health workers for every 100 000 people, the majority of whom are psychiatric nurses and mental health nursing aids.
In a mesage to mark the 2022 World Mental Health Day, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti noted that suicide rates has remained a source of concern due to increase in alcohol use and abuse among adolescents.
Moeti who stated that this year’s theme: ‘Make Mental Health and Wellbeing for All a Global Priority’ is apt said, the theme serves as a reminder that, after about three years of social isolation, fear of disease and death associated with COVID-19 pandemic have contributed to an estimated 25% global rise in depression and anxiety.
Dr Moeti stressed the need to urgently strengthen regulatory systems to close the gaps that allow such young people to easily access alcohol, contributing to heavy episodic drinking rates as high as 80% among teens from 15 to 19.
She said, “The situation poses a serious threat to their education, while setting the stage for a lifetime of alcohol abuse, and the associated risks of noncommunicable and other related diseases.
“Inadequate financing for mental health continues to be the biggest limitation, negatively impacting efforts to expand Africa’s mental health workforce. As things stand, there are fewer than two mental health workers for every 100 000 people, the majority of whom are psychiatric nurses and mental health nursing aids.
“With these scarce resources concentrated at large psychiatric institutions in urban areas, people at community and primary care levels are left critically underserved.
“For example, while two-thirds of Member States report having guidelines to integrate mental health into primary health care, fewer than 11% are providing pharmacological and/or psychological interventions at this level.
“It is however heartening that up to 82% of our Member States are receiving training on how to manage mental health conditions at primary care level, with up to 74% reporting that specialists are involved in providing appropriate training and supervision to primary health care professionals.
“African governments have also made some progress on mental health spending, which has risen to 46 US cents per person. But that is still well below the recommended US$2 per person, with mental health not featuring in national health insurance schemes.
“To address the challenge, it is crucial that Member States follow through on the implementation of commitments they made at the Regional Committee in August 2022, when they endorsed the Framework to Implement the Comprehensive Global Action Plan 2013 to 2023 in the WHO African Region.
“This key document highlights the severe shortage of mental health services on the continent, and makes recommendations for key actions by Member States.
“Among the developments of which Member States can be proud is the launch of Special Initiative for Mental Health frameworks by Ghana and Zimbabwe. Supported by WHO training, the aim is to strengthen relevant services at lower levels of care.
“WHO in the African Region is also supporting task-sharing and integration of mental health into multisectoral programmes in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Mali. Examples include joint tuberculosis and mental health programming in Ghana and Kenya, and joint Neglected Tropical Diseases and mental health efforts in Nigeria. Additionally, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe have been supported to complete mental health investment cases.
“These provide a valuable base from which to make the case for increased investment in this neglected aspect of our health systems.
“To advance continental efforts towards equitable access to mental, neurological and substance abuse care, I want to take the opportunity today to urge Member States to prioritise the implementation of the Framework to Implement the Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan in the WHO African Region. This requires, among other things, increasing government expenditure on relevant services, and mobilising resources from partners.
“Countries especially need to strengthen the mental health and psychosocial response in humanitarian emergencies, including COVID-19 and Ebola, which have a significant negative impact on school-age children and our health care workers. Mental health and psychosocial support are integral to any successful response.
“On World Mental Health Day today, let us all commit to work together to deepen the value we afford to mental health, to reshape the environments that negatively impact mental health, and to strengthen the care systems to make mental health care accessible to all Africans”.
World Mental Health Day is marked on October 10 every year. It provides an opportunity to draw attention to Africa’s large and growing burden of mental health conditions, with children and adolescents worst impacted.
Nigerian scientists and researchers have been unable to claim the N36 million reward offered by the Federal Government for discovering cures for COVID-19 and Lassa Fever, according to checks by DAILY POST. The prize, announced on February 13, 2020, by the then Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, aimed to motivate scientists to find cures for the mentioned diseases. However, as of November 21, 2023, no one has successfully claimed the cash prize.
Dr. Onu had initially challenged Nigerian scientists to find cures for coronavirus and Lassa fever, pledging the N36 million reward for successful discoveries. Despite claims from some individuals and institutions asserting they had found a cure for COVID-19, a committee was set up in May 2020 to review these claims, and the matter seemingly faded away.
The most notable attempt was made by Prof. Maurice Iwu, a former chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, who presented a potential cure for COVID-19 in March 2020. However, the cash prize remained unclaimed, and Iwu’s efforts did not lead to the development of a cure for COVID-19.
With the departure of the former minister and the change in administration, the N36 million cash prize appears to have been forgotten. The current director of press and public relations in the Federal Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology expressed unawareness of the prize, signaling a lack of continuity in addressing the matter.
Prof. Mosto Onuoha, the President of the Nigerian Academy of Science at the time of the prize announcement, indicated that the issue was inconclusive. He mentioned a lack of clarity in the conceptualization of the cash prize, suggesting that there may not have been a well-defined process for submissions and evaluation.
In conclusion, three years after the announcement, the N36 million cash prize for discovering cures for COVID-19 and Lassa Fever remains unclaimed and seemingly forgotten, raising questions about the transparency and effectiveness of the incentive program.
China reported nearly 13,000 Covid-related deaths in hospitals between January 13 and 19, after a top health official said the vast majority of the population has already been infected by the virus.
China, a week earlier, said nearly 60,000 people had died with Covid in hospitals as of January 12, but there has been widespread scepticism over official data since Beijing abruptly axed anti-virus controls last month.
China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in a statement on Saturday that 681 hospitalised patients had died of respiratory failure caused by coronavirus infection, and 11,977 had died of other diseases combined with an infection over the period.
Airfinity, an independent forecasting firm, has estimated daily Covid deaths in China will peak at around 36,000 over the Lunar New Year holiday.
The firm also estimated that more than 600,000 people have died from the disease since China abandoned the zero-Covid policy in December.
An official from the National Health Commission, Guo Yanhong told a news conference on Thursday that China has passed the peak period of Covid patients in fever clinics, emergency rooms and with critical conditions.
The United States has said it plans to spend $68 million to fight malaria in Nigeria.
A document released in Washington DC on Wednesday said the money would be spent under the Presidential Malaria Initiative (PMI).
The funding will support monitoring activities which include insecticide resistance testing in all 11 PMI focus states and five non-PMI focus States.
The benefiary States include Enugu and Kaduna, Abia, Ekiti, Kogi, Kebbi and Sokoto.
“In addition, PMI will continue to support the procurement and distribution of ITNs through mass campaigns, providing technical support to the country’s CY 2024 mass distributions through participation and supporting social and behavior change (SBC) to improve the use and care of ITNs.
“PMI will also maintain the support of streamlined durability monitoring of Interceptor G2 nets (Interceptor G2) in Kebbi State,” the statement said. PMI plans to procure 5.6 million Interceptor G2 for mass campaigns in Oyo State”.
The statement added: “PMI Nigeria will continue to support activities to strengthen malaria in pregnancy (MIP) services and improve uptake of intermittent preventive treatment for pregnant women
“(IPTp), including: strengthening national and state level MIP coordination structures in collaboration with the Ministry of Health (MoH) Reproductive Health (RH) Division; supporting the revision of MIP guidelines, standard operating procedures (SOPs),
‘Training manuals, and job aids to address barriers to uptake of IPTp; and expanding the introduction of the revised guidelines to medical training institutions and other relevant professional associations. PMI will continue to support facility antenatal care (ANC).
“PMI Nigeria will continue to support key case management activities through technical assistance at the federal and state levels, commodity procurement, and facility and community level activities. Activities will include providing updated guidelines for malaria case management, conducting therapeutic efficacy studies, and continuing efforts to establish a national malaria slide bank. With FY 2023 funds, PMI Nigeria will procure 17 million rapid diagnostic test (RDTs), 15 million artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), 350,000 vials of injectable artesunate (IAS), and assorted microscopy supplies, to be distributed to over 5,000 health facilities in the 11 PMI focus states. At the facility level, PMI will continue to support the training of health workers in primary health care (PHC) and secondary health facilities and conduct clinical meetings to increase the quality of malaria case management. At the community level, PMI will expand integrated community case management (iCCM) to four states through the Community Health Influencers, Promoters and Services (CHIPS) Program, including the payment of CHIPS agents,”the statement reads.
