Sierra Leone: Civil society in Sierra Leone calls for end to stigma attached to mental health

10 Octobre 2017

Freetown, Sierra Leone, October  10 (Infosplusgabon) - Health based civil society groups In Sierra Leone have called on people to check their mental status regularly and fight off the stigma attached to such checkups.

Joshua Duncan of Mental Health Coalition told  on Tuesday that “people need to know their mental wellbeing by having regular checkups in hospitals.”

Sierra Leone has a traditional attitude to mental illness, with most cases taken to spiritualists instead of doctors. Duncan said that one of the reason for that is the shame people attach to mental illness in the society.

“People don’t want to visit hospitals to check their mental status, because they are ashamed. Before they know it, the cases become worse,” he added.

Statistics from the country's health ministry show that Sierra Leone has one trained psychiatrist, two clinical psychologists and less than forty mental health nurses nationwide to serve a total population of seven million. There is no recent data on the number of people with mental illness in the country.

A civil society group, Advocacy for Mental and Human Rights, said their campaign this year would target teachers. “We believe that the teachers wellbeing and self-worth are paramount to nurture similar confidence in pupils,” Kona Seibure, the group's chief executive officer.

The theme for this year’s World Mental Health Day observed Tuesday is 'Mental wellbeing in the workplace.'

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/OLM/GABON 2017

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