Mr Raphael Godlove Ahenu, the Chief Executive Officer of the Global Media Foundation (GloMeF), a human rights and media advocacy organisation says more than three million Ghanaians are living mental health (mild) conditions.
Additionally, he said over 600,000 others were also battling severe mental health conditions.
Mr Ahenu said this when speaking at the close-out and learning summit of the ‘Resilient City for Adolescents’ (RCA) project at Fiapre in the Sunyani West Municipality of the Bono Region.
He said that: “research is showing the scale of Ghana’s mental health burden, and this is a clear indication that mental health must be treated as a national priority”.
Mr Ahenu explained that stress and socio-economic pressures were major factors fueling mental health conditions in the country.
“In fact, many people are suffering in silence due to stigmatization and limited access to care”, Mr Ahenu stated.
He explained that the GloMeF together with the Indigenous Women Empowerment Network and Citizens Watch Ghana, also NGOs secured the £300,000 grant from the Fondation Botnar, through Ecorys United Kingdom to implement the three year RCA project to improve the wellbeing of adolescents in the Sunyani and Sunyani West Municipalities.
The project with support from the consortium partners of the Healthy Cities for Adolescents Initiative sought to equip the youth to become active citizens and take part in the social, political and economic activities.
The close-out session aimed at evaluating the project’s implementation, presenting lessons learnt, best practices as well as showcasing adolescent-led initiatives and innovations.
Mr Ahenu called on the nation to be expeditious in the passage of the Mental Health into law, saying that delay in passage of the bill was hampering efforts to improve mental health services, and protecting the vulnerable populations.
“It’s worrying that the government isn’t paying much attention to the passage of the bill”, he worried, saying that: “We can’t have a country with a large number of people facing mental health challenges and yet have only 38 psychiatric doctors serving the entire population”.
He said the passage of the bill into law would push the allocation of adequate resources for training, recruitment, and deployment of mental health professionals.
Mr Ahenu urged families to be more attentive to the psychological and emotional well-being of their children, worrying that many families overlooked early warning signs of mental distress, allowing the problem to escalate.
“The behaviour of some children isn’t in order, but their families have not taken notice to help them seek medical care”, he stated, saying that early intervention remained key to preventing mild from developing into severe conditions.
Mr Ahenu called for stronger collaboration between schools, health professionals, and community organizations to provide timely support and care, urging greater inclusion of young people in decision-making processes.
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: Regina Benneh
