Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T07:21:58.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The new Ghana mental health bill

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Akwasi O. Osei ,
Mark Roberts  and
Jim Crabb
Akwasi O. Osei
Affiliation:
Ghana Health Service; Medical Director, Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Accra, Ghana, email [email protected]
Mark Roberts
Affiliation:
Ravenswood House, Knowle, Fareham, UK, email [email protected]
Jim Crabb
Affiliation:
Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, UK, email [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

In Ghana, the main burden of ill-health, as in many sub-Saharan countries, consists of communicable disease, illnesses due to inadequate nutrition and poor reproductive health. As these conditions are tackled, other diseases, such as mental disorders and substance misuse, are also becoming the focus of development efforts. In Ghana, it has been estimated that there are 2166 000 individuals experiencing a mild to moderate mental disorder, with a further 650000 suffering from a severe mental disorder, out of a population of 21.6 million (World Health Organization, 2007). In 2003, the country's mental health workforce consisted of 9 psychiatrists (only 4 of whom worked in mental health services), 451 nurses and 160 community psychiatric nurses (World Health Organization, 2003). Currently there are just 5 consultant psychiatrists in active service in the public sector and 11 retired psychiatrists. As just under 33 000 individuals are seen each year in Ghana by mental health services, there is an estimated treatment gap of 98% (World Health Organization, 2007). Most mental healthcare is undertaken at the three large psychiatric hospitals, in the south of the country. This is reflected in the ratio of out-patient attendance to admission, which is 4.64 for mental health, compared with 14.6 for all health conditions (Ghana Health Service, 2005).

Type
Thematic Papers — Policy on Mental Health
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 8 - 9
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2011

References

Ghana Health Service (2005) Annual Report 2005. Ghana Health Service.Google Scholar
Hyman, S., Chisholm, D., Kessler, R., et al (2006) Mental disorders. In Disease Control Priorities in Developing Countries (2nd edition) (eds Jamison, T., Breman, D. T. & Measham, J. G.), ch. 31. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
United Nations (2008) Human Development Indices. UNDP. Available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDI_2008_EN_Tables.pdf (accessed April 2009).Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2001) Mental Health Policy Project – Policy and Service Guidance Package – Executive Summary. WHO.Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2003) Mental Health Profile 2003. WHO. Available at http://www.who.int/countries/gha/publications/MENTAL_HEALTH_PROFILE.pdf (accessed April 2009).Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2005) Project Atlas: Resources for Mental Health and Neurological Disorders. WHO. Available at http://www.who.int/globalatlas/default.asp (accessed April 2009).Google Scholar
World Health Organization (2007) Ghana Country Summary. WHO. Available at http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/country/GhanaCoutrySummary_Oct2007.pdf (sic; accessed April 2009).Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.