Have more conversations about mental health

Experts have expressed concern about the rising number of women with mental health cases since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Mr Edward Ssempira, the executive director of Lifeback Foundation Rehabilitation Centre, said they are overwhelmed by a big turn up of females seeking mental health treatment.

In the same vein, Dr Hafsa Lukwata, the head of the Mental Health Division at the Ministry of Health said: “Before the Covid-19 pandemic, different categories of people were facing challenges of mental health, especially musicians breaking down and keeping it to themselves, luckily, when we started talking about it, people appreciated our initiative.”

This was at an engagement with musicians, mental health experts, and the Ministry of Health officials on May 1

The World Health Organisation also expressed concern about the high number of mental health illnesses in Uganda amid the shortage of trained psychiatrists. The WHO country representative,  Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, says about 14 million Ugandans suffer from mental health-related illnesses with one specialist for one million people.

The calls come at the right time, with May being the Mental Health Awareness Month. The month has been observed in the United States - and subsequently other parts of the world - since 1949.

Despite its spread among both the young and old, mental health remains shrouded in stigma, barring many people from seeking help from relevant stakeholders.

It is good that mental health is now a frequent topic of discussion with several interventions being devised to deal with this very real challenge. This is a start,  a good one too. If no one is talking about it, we would never know how serious and magnitude of what we are dealing with. Therefore, that people are seeking professional help is a step in the right direction.

With the ever-increasing pressures of life, primarily the high cost of living, it’s only natural that mental health will suffer. Therefore, the key is to acknowledge one’s struggles and deal with the triggers or seek help to manage the situation. There should be more conversations about mental health and continued sensitization on the detriments of drug and alcohol abuse.

For many, talking about one’s mental health is still difficult because those who are mentally unwell are stigmatized. These mindsets and attitudes also have to change if effective progress is to be made.

Needless to say, early intervention and access to quality care are crucial for managing mental health conditions and improving the quality of life of those affected in many ways than one.

Let’s have more conversations about mental health and how to deal with the challenges therein.