Frederick
Ampong is excited at his volunteering role to support mental health patients in
his local community at Bekwai Ahwiaa within the Bekwai municipality of the
Ashanti region.
For
him, ‘mental health is a right and not a privilege’, hence his commitment to
advocate against stigmatization of mental health patients.
“When
I realized patients can get better when they take their medication, I was happy
to help in educating others; we’ve engaged in several activities and by God’s
grace, a lot of people who by taking their medication have recovered,” he
stated.
Frederick is among volunteers and self-help groups trained in various communities under the
Mental Health and Development Programme.
The
Programme, implemented by the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP) in
collaboration with BasicNeeds Ghana, is working to ensure people with mental
health illness and epilepsy are able to live and work successfully in their
communities.
“We
are looking at a situation where people will not be sent to institutions but
will be kept in communities, to access healthcare facilities from district
hospitals where mental health units are being established,” stated Michael
Bosompem-Twum, programme officer at CEDEP.
Five
districts have benefitted from the project since inception in 2011 – including
Bekwai Municipal, Amansie West, Adansi South, Ejura Sekyedumase municipal and
Tafo sub-metro in Kumasi. It’s being scaled-up to all districts of Ashanti
region.
According
to Mr. Bosompem-Twum, targets set under the first phase of the project have
been exceeded in Ashanti – close to 1,700 patients have been reached in the
past four years.
The
volunteers and self-help groups are seen as critical stakeholders to sustain
the programme due to their interest in community development.
They
have being undergoing continuous skill training to devise strategies to manage
mental health cases, including follow-ups on patients to administer their
medication, identification of patients in communities and make referrals of
patients to health facilities.
The second phase of the Programme is supporting the
government to build a National Mental Health System that effectively and
efficiently responds to the mental health needs of the population.
“Mental
ill-health should be seen as equally important,” said Fred Nantogmah, the
communication and information officer of Basic Needs Ghana.
The
project, funded by DFID, seeks to decentralize mental health treatment services
and to make it a community- based activity.
Challenges
faced by the volunteers include inadequate logistics, especially transportation
to ease mobility in rural communities.
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