Stakeholders have called for joint efforts to ensure the implementation of the Mental Health Act, as only through its implementation can mental health services and funding, among others, improve in Nigeria.
They stated this at the third Jemila Abubakar Memorial Essay (JAME) Award ceremony organised by the Asido Foundation, held at the International Conference Centre Ibadan on Wednesday.
In her keynote address, Mrs Funso Adegbola, Director of The Vale College Ibadan, commended Asido for her immense contribution to mental health advocacy in Nigeria. She added that mental health must be a priority for all individuals and society.
She alluded to the WHO sayings that “There is NO HEALTH WITHOUT MENTAL HEALTH!” noting that for the mental health act to be successful, “we as individuals must champion the advocacy and awareness creation that the Asido Foundation and many others are doing around the law.
“Other challenges facing mental health include low levels of government priority for mental health, policies and legislation that are obsolete or poorly implemented, as well as widespread ignorance, shame, and stigma associated with a mental health diagnosis.
“Superimposed on these is the paucity of mental health professionals available nationwide.”
In his Chairman’s remarks, the Deputy Gov. of Oyo State, Mr Adebayo Lawal extolled the virtues of the late Jemila Abubakar and enjoined everyone present to emulate her.
Lawal, represented by his wife, Mrs Ajibike Lawal, urged the youths to develop their passion to impact their world positively.
Also, the Co-chairman at the event, a professor of medicine and Neurology, Adesola Ogunniyi stressed the importance of unravelling the myths and misconceptions about medicine, particularly mental health.
He commended Asido for its advocacy work in demystifying all the stigmas associated with mental illness.
“I feel we should embrace the idea of making mental health something we should not be ashamed of for individuals that we need to help,” Ogunniyi said.
Also, Prof. Oye Gureje, in an interview, speaking on the Mental Health Act, said the signing of the bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, as good as it is, only calls for more advocacy by everyone.
“We need to try and get the government to implement the law. This particular law commits the government not just to provide human resources but also financial resources in terms of implementation.
“And you know anything that does that usually in Nigeria, gets relegated to the background. I am concerned that this is not what the government will implement quickly except we continue with the pressure that has been going on for years, a lot of work still needs to be done,” Gureje said.
Earlier in his address, the Founder of the Asido Foundation, Dr Jibril Abdulmalik said there was an 80 per cent treatment gap in persons with mental health adding that misconception and stigmatisation of the illness have not helped in proper medical treatment of the illness.
He identified human rights abuses of affected persons as shame, stigma, and discrimination. “Stigma is a broad term, encompassing problems of Knowledge, that is ignorance, Attitude which comes with prejudice and behaviour which is discrimination.
“We are usually afraid of things which we do not understand. The societal impact of Mental III-Health includes human rights abuses, Stigma and discrimination, beliefs in supernatural disease causation, drug abuse and insecurity, few mental health professionals and reduced access to care, which is the treatment gap.”
Abdulmalik further said the JAME Award of Excellence was to celebrate the legacy of its pioneer program manager, who served selflessly.
He said her qualities are values we love young people to emulate. “This is why we chose to immortalize her by establishing the Jemila Abubakar Memorial Essay (JAME) Competition: To keep her memory alive and encourage other youth to emulate her life of sacrifice and dedication to humanity.
“To promote mental health awareness among young students across the country and to enrol the top fifteen winners in a leadership and mental health fellowship to become mental health advocates.”
The the event featured decorations of some distinguished personalities as special ambassadors and patrons of the organisation.
