WORLD Mental Health Day (October 10) is a day for global mental health education, awareness and advocacy.
It was first celebrated in 1992 as an initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global mental health organisation with members and contacts worldwide.
On this day, October 10, thousands observe an annual awareness programme to bring attention to mental illness and its major effects on peoples’ lives worldwide.
It is against this background that on October 21, Zimbabwe held belated commemorations of the World Mental Health Day under the theme ‘Dignity in Mental Health-Psychological and Mental Health First Aid for All’.
In his speech, the president of World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH), Professor Gabriel Ivbijaro, said the theme sought to take mental health out of the shadows.
“The theme ensures that people in general feel more confident in tackling the stigma, isolation and discrimination that continues to plague people with mental health conditions, their families and careers,” he said.
“Psychological and mental health first aid is a theme that every citizen of the world can embrace.
“It provides a global opportunity and platform to increase community awareness of mental health issues and the recognition of early signs of a mental health problem so that we can act early.
“As we all know, nobody is immune because mental distress can affect any one of us.”
Ivbijaro said stigma and discrimination continue to affect many people who experience mental health issues and there continues to be poor investment in mental health which results in poorer health outcomes.
Worldwide, at least one-in-four adults experience mental health difficulties at any one time and those who support them are also touched by the problem, thus highlighting mental health in only one day a year is insufficient.
“We know that somewhere in the world today a person dies every 40 seconds as a result of suicide, a preventable condition,” Ivbijaro said.
“Many people with depression, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder and epilepsy are getting little or no help and alcohol as well as substance misuse remains a major problem.
“About 10 percent of the world’s population is affected by a diagnosable mental disorder and 20 percent of children and adolescents suffer from some form of diagnosable mental disorder.
“It is estimated that mental disorder accounts for 30 percent of the non-fatal disease burden worldwide so the continued lack of investment in mental health is a short-sighted approach because, in the long run, nations and society pay more.
“This is why global events such as World Mental Health Day are very important for every single one of us because they provide an opportunity for us to come together as a global family to advocate mental health and provide the evidence that enables Government to do the right thing.”
Zimbabwe has not been spared by the modern-day challenges which have resulted in the increase of mental health related illnesses.
While great strides have been made to ensure that minor mental-related illnesses like depression are contained before they develop to mental disorder, very little attention has been paid to improve the treatment of mentally ill patients.
The director of the Zimbabwe National Association for Mental Health (ZNMH), Ignatius Murambidzi, said Zimbabwe still uses chlorpromazine, commonly known as ‘CPZ’, as the main anti-psychotic drug in the country, whereas other countries have phased it out because of its side-effects.
Mentally-ill patients in Zimbabwe are treated for free in state hospitals, but have to bear the brunt of the side-effects that include stiffness of the body, retarded psychomotor activities, excess salivation, drowsiness and fatigue, among others.
Murambidzi said there was need to decentralise mental health services across the country.
“In the capital, mental health institutions are at Harare and Parirenyatwa Hospitals, while in Bulawayo there is Ingutsheni,” he said.
“The distances that patients need to walk are sometimes long as most of them are localised in the main towns hence the need to ensure that even those in remote areas have access to adequate care under properly trained personnel (sic).
“It is against this background that we propose community participation so that we decongest these major hospitals while also removing the stigma associated with being in their own category.”
According to Murambidzi, at least one in every four Zimbabweans has a mental health-related illness although he highlighted that there are no proper statistics due to the poor attention given to mental health illness.