With Nigeria’s long-standing difficulties in delivering accessible care, Mental Health advocacy has recently garnered substantial traction in the nation. In Nigeria, comprehensive community-based treatments are still lacking in the system despite the country having a mental health strategy in place since 1991. Mental health advocates Aisha Bubah and Jecinta Egbim underlined the importance of comprehensive and equitable mental health care on World Mental Health Day. Psychology professor and activist Aisha Bubah is pushing the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) to establish mental health desks in nearby medical facilities and train healthcare staff in basic mental health support.
Aisha, an insurgency victim, highlights that access to high-quality mental health care is a fundamental human right, especially for those who have experienced trauma. Jecinta Egbim is an expert in mental health in education, especially in areas of violence like Kaduna. She is an advocate of training teachers to support pupils affected by trauma and violence, as well as requiring guidance and counselling departments in public schools. With only 250 psychiatrists servicing a population of 215 million, both campaigners draw attention to the severe mental health problem in Nigeria, which is made worse by a shortage of experts.
50 million Nigerians struggle with mental health conditions.
Beyond the high suicide rate and lack of mental health experts, Nigeria faces a mental health crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 20 to 30 percent of Nigerians suffer from mental illnesses, making it one of the countries in Africa with the highest prevalence of mental disease. This amounts to almost 50 million Nigerians struggling with mental health conditions like substance misuse, depression, and anxiety, but the nation barely devotes 3.3 percent of its health budget to mental health.
Furthermore, the stigma associated with mental illness contributes to widespread neglect, since many people choose to turn to traditional or spiritual healers rather than a medical professional for assistance. Significant progress has been made in Aisha Bubah’s campaign. She has collaborated with community-based groups and primary healthcare facilities to promote the installation of mental health desks in nearby neighbourhoods. Her efforts have led to the piloting of mental health services as part of primary care in a few northeastern Nigerian healthcare centres. Funding remains a significant obstacle for her, though, as many of these centres are understaffed and underfunded, and mental health services are still not given high priority by the government.
Policymakers healthcare system recognise how serious the situation is.
Jecinta Egbim has had some success getting schools to put in place mental health support systems, especially in places where there is a lot of violence. She has led training workshops in Kaduna and collaborated with regional Education boards to implement mental health awareness initiatives for educators. Notwithstanding these successes, a major obstacle still exists: some school administrators are reluctant to provide funding for mental health services because they would prefer to concentrate on meeting more pressing issues like Teacher shortages and infrastructure. Although they emphasise that the problems are structural, policymakers and other players in Nigeria’s healthcare system recognise how serious the situation is.
A representative of Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health, Dr. Dayo Aro, has brought attention to the fact that low funding and poor Infrastructure obstruct the government’s efforts to amend the Mental Health Act, which took the place of the 1958 Lunacy Act. “We need to incorporate mental health care into our overall healthcare plan, but that will take significant funding,” he states. Conversely, a representative for the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency declared that they are presently “investigating collaborations with regional and global institutions to enhance mental health offerings at the community degree.”
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Initiatives for improving mental health care in low- and middle-income countries, such as the WHO’s Mental Health Action Plan, are in line with Aisha and Jecinta’s work. Aisha and Jecinta are examples of local advocates that are interested in working with international organisations like UNICEF and Save the Children to address the mental health needs of vulnerable people, especially in conflict zones. Both campaigners are spreading awareness and advocating for systemic improvements that could serve as a model for other developing countries dealing with comparable mental health issues by tying their efforts to these international movements.