ONLY ON AP – Psychiatric hospital battles lack of resources to provide mental healthcare

ONLY ON AP – Psychiatric hospital battles lack of resources to provide mental healthcare

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(4 Feb 2014) Years of conflict and instability in Somalia have had a profound impact on the mental health of many of its citizens.
One in three Somalis are affected by some form of psychological disorder, a prevalence which is higher than in other low-income and war-torn countries, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Despite this disturbing assessment of the state of mental health in this tentatively-recovering country of 10.2 million, there is no officially approved mental health policy in Somalia.
Mental health is not integrated into primary health care in the country and very few professionals are equipped to deal with the magnitude of the problem.
It is common to keep mentally ill people in chains in Somalia, which the WHO says is a sign of a lack of adequate mental health care services.
The WHO has provided some training for mental healthcare workers through capacity-building workshops and courses.
As of January 2010, the WHO workshops have trained 33 nurses and 10 occupational therapists in Somalia.
Abdulrahman Ali Awale was one of the people who received the training and became a psychiatric nurse.
In 2005, Ali Awale decided to try and make a difference.
He raised enough money from local businessmen and Somalis living abroad to open the first chain-free mental hospital in Mogadishu.
Since then, Awale has opened 6 more mental health facilities across the country, three of them in the capital, and has offered help to more than 15,000 people.
Awale, or Dr Habeb, as he is fondly called by locals – despite lacking formal medical training – is one of Somalia’s main mental health providers alongside the WHO.
The WHO allocated 8,000 US dollars for an initiative implemented by Awale’s Habeb Public Mental Hospital in 2007.
About 3,000 US dollars of the budget was used to purchase essential psychotropic medications. The length of this project was 81 days.
Nowadays, Awale said, the hospitals are dependent mainly on private donations, straining their already meagre resources.
Becoming choked with emotion, Awale said the hospital is struggling to maintain proper levels of hygiene.
“Sanitation is very very poor because every patient has only one pair, or two pair of trousers, no change. When we try to bathe the patient, we have not new clothes to change our patient, really, really.”
The hospital staff, mainly volunteers and several nurses, say they are often overwhelmed with the number of people needing help.
“Every day at least two, three, four people are coming to be treated and we can’t…we don’t have enough space, we don’t have enough, enough medication,” said nurse Mohammad Artan.
Awale says the capacity of the hospital located on 21 October Road is insufficient.
It mostly treats acute cases and the estimated length of stay here is 2-3 weeks.
Many patients need to share beds or sleep on mattresses placed on the floor, he said.
Some patients have got recurrent problems, like Fatima, a 48-year old mother of one, who started experiencing mental health issues after the death of her husband.
Fatima’s mother appealed for help, saying the conditions in the hospital were dire.
“We need medicine, we need the world to help us,” she said.
Many Somalis with mental health problems are often ostracised and vulnerable and mental illness still has a stigma attached to it.
Many African countries, including parts of Somalia, practice old and traditional ways of treating mental illness,
Because of religious and cultural beliefs, science and medicine are not always accepted as a proper way to treat mental illness.
“They need love,” he said.

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