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Seventy percent of the global burden of mental disorders is located in low and middle income countries (LMIC),including sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). However, in Africa,only 0.62% of the national health budget is allocated to mental health compared to a global median of 2.8% and 5% in Europe. The government is the source of funding in 62%of patients with severe mental disorder in the World Health Organisation (WHO), Africa Region, the lowest of all the WHO regions, and lower compared to a global median of 79%. This is compounded by poor resources, with mental health outpatient facilities in WHO Africa Region being less that 10% of the global median. To address these problems, the WHO launched its Mental Health Action Gap Programme (mhGAP) in 2008, to scale-up mental health services in low and middle income countries (LMIC). The book is directed to all policy makers in sub-Saharan Africa to aid decision making about the urgent need for sustainable and relevant mental health care strategies, and the important areas that need priority. The book should be helpful to local and international researchers in formulating research questions relevant to the African continent and it will be of interest to medical practitioners and students in the region as adjunct to standard text books.
The mental-health conditions and services in most African countries are of great concern. There is a stark distinction of health disparities between urban and rural communities across these countries. There is an unequal divide in the allocation of resources for health related services, and mental health services have become a political decision more than the fair distribution of resources. The situation is even worse in the less developed countries across the various sub-regions. People all over the African continent are increasingly being affected by many common psychological and mental health disorders, as well as illnesses that go untreated for many years. This book is based on the assumption that there is a need to examine the conditions/services of mental health prevailing in different African countries to inform and educate people about the situation, and also to serve as an additional source of knowledge on African mental health issues. Additionally, there is a dearth of literature on mental health services from multiple African countries accessible through one anthology. Also notable is that the social work and human services professions in Africa lack textbooks written by indigenous African educators on pertinent issues affecting the people in the continent. Therefore, this book serves to fill that gap and to contribute to literature concerning Africa. The book examines mental health conditions and services in terms of diagnoses, causes, treatment and psycho-social services provided by some countries in Africa, namely Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Even though, mental health issues have been written about by some African mental health specialists and experts, the chapters in this book are written mostly by African social work professionals and psychologists, and this is presumably the first of its kind. Each country describes the situations, conditions, resources, stigma/discrimination, traditional beliefs and practices concerning mental health, and also discusses the ways to improve the conditions and services for these populations.
In many African countries, mental health issues, including the burden of serious mental illness and trauma, have not been adequately addressed. These essays shed light on the treatment of common and chronic mental disorders, including mental illness and treatment in the current climate of economic and political instability, access to health care, access to medicines, and the impact of HIV-AIDS and other chronic illness on mental health. While problems are rampant and carry real and devastating consequences, this volume promotes an understanding of the African mental health landscape in service of reform.
This Reader is about the changing trends in mental health care and research in Ghana. The book includes a brief history of Department of Psychiatry at the University of Ghana Medical School and Mental Health Care in Ghana through the eyes of professionals who have lived this history. There is also a revised situation analysis of mental health services and legislation from 2005. These are followed by three main sections on Conceptualization of Mental Illness (depression, religion and illness, autism, substance use disorders and schizophrenia), Mental Health Practice in a teaching hospital setting (referrals to Korle-Bu, how psychiatric illnesses manifest, how people's lives are affected and what skill sets and resources are available for dealing with them) and finally the Department's focus on research includes the Mental Health Information System, Sickle Cell Disease, Medical Ethics, and Liaison Psychiatry. In the concluding paragraph, read about the way forward in mental health care and research.
"The essays in this collection are written to make readers (re)consider what is possible in Africa. The essays shake the tree of received wisdom and received categories, and hone in on the complexities of life under ecological and economic constraints. Yet, throughout this volume, people do not emerge as victims, but rather as inventors, engineers, scientists, planners, writers, artists, and activists, or as children, mothers, fathers, friends, or lovers - all as future-makers. It is precisely through agents such as these that Africa is futuring: rethinking, living, confronting, imagining, and relating in the light of its many emerging tomorrows"--
Mental, neurological, and substance use disorders are common, highly disabling, and associated with significant premature mortality. The impact of these disorders on the social and economic well-being of individuals, families, and societies is large, growing, and underestimated. Despite this burden, these disorders have been systematically neglected, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, with pitifully small contributions to scaling up cost-effective prevention and treatment strategies. Systematically compiling the substantial existing knowledge to address this inequity is the central goal of this volume. This evidence-base can help policy makers in resource-constrained settings as they prioritize programs and interventions to address these disorders.
Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) disorders, and most do not have the resources to obtain treatment. The Uganda National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop to discuss the state of care for MNS disorders in sub-Saharan Africa.
This scholarly book focuses on stroke in Africa. Stroke is a leading cause of disability among adults of all ages, contributing significantly to health care costs related to long term implications, particularly if rehabilitation is sub-optimal. Given the burden of stroke in Africa, there is a need for a book that focuses on functioning African stroke survivors and the implications for rehabilitation within the African context. In addition, there is a need to progress with contextualised, person-centred, evidence-based guidance for the rehabilitation of people with stroke in Africa, thereby enabling them to lead socially and economically meaningful lives. The research incorporated in the book used a range of primary and secondary methodological approaches (scoping reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analyses, descriptive studies, surveys, health economics, and clinical practice guideline methodology) to shed new insights into African-centred issues and strategies to optimise function post-stroke.
Current data and trends in morbidity and mortality for the sub-Saharan Region as presented in this new edition reflect the heavy toll that HIV/AIDS has had on health indicators, leading to either a stalling or reversal of the gains made, not just for communicable disorders, but for cancers, as well as mental and neurological disorders.
This volume brings together seven empirically grounded contributions by African social scientists of different disciplinary backgrounds. The authors explore the social impact of religious innovation and competition in present day Africa. They represent a selection from an interdisciplinary initiative that made 23 research grants for theologians and social scientists to study Christianity and social change in contemporary Africa. These contributions focus on a variety of dynamics in contemporary African religion (mostly Christianity), including gender, health and healing, social media, entrepreneurship, and inter-religious borrowing and accommodation. The volume seeks to enhance understanding of religions vital presence and power in contemporary Africa. It reveals problems as well as possibilities, notably some ethical concerns and psychological maladies that arise in some of these new movements, notably neo-Pentecostal and militant fundamentalist groups. Yet the contributions do not fixate on African problems and victimization. Instead, they explore sources of African creativity, resiliency and agency. The book calls on scholars of religion and religiosity in Africa to invest new conceptual and methodological energy in understanding what it means to be actively religious in Africa today.