The three day health conference held at the Great Hall and the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University is on the theme “Mental Health in Africa: Prospects and Challenges”. The meeting was organized by the African Association of Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals (AAPAP) together with the Department of Psychiatry, the School of Medicine and Dentistry, and the Department of Psychology of the University of Ghana.
Speakers for the programme are the South African High Commissioner to Ghana, Her Excellency Ms. Lulama Xingwana, Madam Mavis Opoku, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Madam Angela Ofori-Atta of the University of Ghana School of Medicine and Dentistry as well as Professor Solomon Rataemane of the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU), Pretoria, South Africa. The moderator for the programme is Dr. Sammy Ohene, Head of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ghana.
Her Excellency Lulama Xingwana in her address said the conference was to highlight and discuss challenges facing people with mental health conditions, and to encourage psychologists, doctors and scientists to tackle the situation more adequately. She indicated that people become traumatized as a result of poverty as well as repatriation from countries they envisaged for better lives. These tend to affect their mindset and wellbeing and as such are often stigmatized by society. Recounting similar cases in South Africa, Ms. Xingwana emphasized the need to educate communities to stop the stigma but rather offer support and guidance to victims. She also urged for a close collaboration between the government and international partners to prioritize eradication of poverty, migration problems, unemployment and inequality especially among the youth. She called on the government to institute social interventions such as mental health legislation and with appropriate budget to enable feasible policy implementation. People who abuse others especially women and children because of their disorder must be tracked down and prosecuted, she added.
Mrs. Opoku cited mental health as one area which needed particular attention mostly because of the culture, traditions, and beliefs society assign to the condition. She noted that beside the scientific and biological explanations of the disorder, through violence, specifically emotional and psychological, women and children suffer the most. In order to cater for the vulnerable groups in society, the Ministry facilitated strategies such as the Affirmative Action bill, the Disability and Aged policies, Domestic Violence Law, Property Rights of Spouses currently discussed in Parliament, as well as the Intestate Succession Law. She highlighted the gender dimensions of mental health as one key area of focus to the condition hence the need to tackle it accordingly. Mrs. Opoku cautioned against stigmatization as this extended to families of the traumatized person.
Madam Angela Ofori-Atta in her research “Bringing Psychology to the People: A Cognitive Behavioural Group Intervention for Building Resilience in Poor Communities in Northern Ghana” explained that people living in poor communities may have higher occurrences of psychological distress and low productivity in the midst of life’s difficulties and uncertainties. Despite this challenge, results of the study proved otherwise. She noted that community folks who suffered from stigma but went through the 12 weeks session became resilient to discrimination, adding that some participants had begun new ventures as manifestation of their stated goals at the start of the intervention programme. Madam Ofori-Atta iterates that building resilience in communities is good protection against bad times, and good infusion of knowledge and strength to for good times.
Professor Rataemane addressed the audience about “Intergenerational Trauma: Perspectives in Clinical Practice”. He observed that stress syndromes seemed to run in families; transmitted from fathers to sons, mothers to daughters and also from one period to the next in a nation’s history. He noted that the existence of unresolved trauma was because parents suppressed the condition and perhaps feared to discuss the initial trauma thus hindering free communication among family members and citizens of a nation. Prof. Rataemane cautioned against thinking negatively about oneself as that seriously affects emotions and memory. He called on clinical psychologists and families of those affected to offer training and counseling as means to solve the situation.
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