The Mental Health Authority (MHA) has called on government to invest in the mental health sector. The Authority disclosed government must invest to support improved access to psychotropic medicines, strengthened governance and accountability measures.
Speaking on behalf of the Authority, Mrs. Caroline Amissah, Deputy Executive Director, indicated that the investments would help support Ghana’s economic growth, strengthen poverty reduction efforts, improve population health and reduce the burden on the health system.
Speaking on the incoming 2021 Mental Health Week Celebration in Accra, she also suggested that mental health should also be included in the National Health Insurance Scheme benefits package. She made this call with support from, the World Health Organization and Ghana Somubi Dwumedie (GSD).
Mrs. Amissah further averred that, the celebrations which will come off on the 10th October, 2021, will be geared towards campaigns to project mental health, raise awareness about the unequal allocation of resources to the mental health system that had impacted negatively on the delivery and utilization of mental health services.
“It is to make a strong case for increased investment in mental health”.
Mrs. Caroline Amissah
·Mental health disorders cost Ghana 7% GDP loss
·Countries spend just 2% of their health budgets on mental health-WHO
Mrs. Amissah stated that the world was currently grappling with the negative effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, which had exposed the inequalities on health outcomes and mental health outcomes in particular, for which no country, despite their wealth had been adequately prepared.
“The outcome of this inadequacy is evident in every aspect of delivery and utilization of mental health services, and calls for greater commitment to invest in mental health to significantly reverse infrastructural inadequacies and increase a number of mental health professionals”.
Mrs. Caroline Amissah
Pandemic will have continuous effect
Mrs. Caroline Amissah noted the pandemic had and would continue to affect people, of all ages, in many ways, through infection and illness, economic impact through job losses and job insecurity, physical distancing, which could all lead to social isolation that could contribute to psychological distress for some.
“Interventions they deal with resulting in detrimental mental health outcomes is inevitable and we need to be prepared for it by ensuring a greater investment in our mental health system”.
Mrs. Caroline Amissah
She therefore called for the implementation of the Mental Health Levy to support operations of the MHA, corporate organizational support, and for Assemblies to make budgetary allocations for mental health.
There’s the need to invest in mental health
Also speaking, Dr. Amma Npomaa Boadu, Deputy Director of Mental Health, Ghana Health Service, said the theme for this year’s celebration was apt considering the current situation, because the impact of the pandemic had further deepened the already existing inequalities that existed in the world which was worse in Ghana.
“We cannot continue with the way we have been handling issues of mental health in the country because the pandemic had exposed the inequalities and there is the need to attend to the situation as it presents itself and see how to further prevent any such future occurrences”.
Dr. Amma Npomaa Boadu
Dr. Boadu disclosed there was also the need to invest in mental health as a nation, and government must heed to the call for mental health care to be a reality in an even more unequal world during this time and beyond.
