By ANN ZULU
THE increasing cases of mental disorder in Zambia has
become a source of concern for mental health experts and many Zambians who are
now calling for adequate mental health facilities and personnel to curb it.
Mental disorder, also called mental illness,
psychological disorder or psychiatric disorder, is a mental or behavioral
pattern that causes either suffering or poor ability to function in ordinary
life.
The causes of mental disorder are often unclear but
common causes include drug abuse, depression, dementia, schizophrenia,
discrimination and sometimes it is genetic.
Some of the signs and symptoms are disturbed or
disruptive behaviour, unkempt appearance, and disorientation, distortion in
perception, poor judgment and orientation.
According to latest statistics, more than a million
Zambians suffer from mild and acute mental illness.
A tour across the major cities and towns in the
country may reveal a lot of mental patients both young and old on the streets.
There is no doubt that the number of mentally deranged
people patrolling the streets especially in cities have increased.
These persons mostly drink from the gutters and eat
from refuge dump sites. They often carry large luggages full of rubbish.
The
dangers they pose
Mental patients can sometimes be violent and they must
not be ignored.
According to Melody Mulenga, a maketeer at Lusaka’s
Soweto Market, male mental patients were very dangerous.
She said many male mental patients found on the
markets often tried to attack women and still walked around freely.
She noted that some women marketeers have fallen
victim and nothing had been done to their violators.
“The markets are no longer safe for women because of
the increasing number of mental
patients; women are getting raped that sometimes they are even ashamed to
report to the police or talk about it. Moreover even if they report nothing
will be done because the offender is a mental patient,” she said.
State
of Mental Health care In Zambia
Mental health care still remains a challenge in Zambia
due to inadequate mental health facilities and personnel.
At the moment, the country only has one psychiatry
hospital in Lusaka: Chainama Hills Hospital, which is not sufficient
considering the increase in population and the number of people with mental
problems.
John Mwale, a psychiatrist, said there is need to give
priority to the management of mental disorder because its burden outweighed
that of HIV.
Mr Mwale said mental illness was one of the major
contributors to disease burden globally.
He said it was regrettable that the country only had
one mental health institution at a time when the number of mental health
patients was increasing.
He advised Government to prioritize the construction
of more mental hospitals in all the 10 provinces.
“In Zambia, one out of seven persons will have serious
mental illnesses, while one in four persons will have some form of mental
disorder; and this is a conservative estimate.
“Mental health is one of the health conditions that
has been seriously neglected in Zambia, hence the urgent need to give it
priority before more lives are lost.” he said.
Attitude
of family members
Some family members of the mentally challenged are not
helping matters as they abandon their sick relatives, which has led to many
mental patients roaming the streets.
Others, isolate and discriminate against them, while
some take them to prayer camps to seek spiritual healing and in most instances
the treatment they go through include starvation, physical assault and chaining
for days, which eventually compound their situation.
Need
for funds
Mental Health care, as a matter of urgency, needs
regular and constant release of funds. It also needs more doctors and more
members of staff to help curb the situation.
Goodwill ambassador for persons living with
disabilities Elijah Ngwale said the release of more funds would go a long way
to help remove mental patients from the streets.
“Gradually we can get rid of all the mental patients
from the streets because the rate at which mental patients continue to pour on
the street is very outrageous and much attention has to be given to it,” he
said.
Way
forward
Mental health care is a shared responsibility and
therefore Government, benevolent individuals, families and other stakeholders
must give it immediate intervention to help fix the challenges.
It is imperative for families, relatives and friends
to desist from neglecting their mentally ill relatives; they should give them
the needed attention and care not leave them to their fate.
Government should also be able to design systematic
programmes and liaison with relevant bodies to clear mental health patients
from the streets for people to go about their daily activities without fear.
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