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Traditional health practitioners and mental health in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Marx Okonji ,
Frank Njenga ,
David Kiima ,
James Ayuyo ,
Pius Kigamwa ,
Ajit Shah  and
Rachel Jenkins
Marx Okonji
Affiliation:
Chiromo Lane Medical Centre, Nairobi
Frank Njenga
Affiliation:
Chiromo Lane Medical Centre, Nairobi
David Kiima
Affiliation:
Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Afya House, Nairobi, Kenya
James Ayuyo
Affiliation:
Mildmay International, Kisumu, Kenya
Pius Kigamwa
Affiliation:
University of Nairobi School of Medicine, Nairobi, Kenya
Ajit Shah
Affiliation:
Ageing, Ethnicity and Mental Health, Institute for Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
Rachel Jenkins
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK, email [email protected]
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Abstract

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The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among rural and urban Kenyan primary care attenders has been reported to be as high as 63% (Ndetei & Muhangi, 1979; Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983; Dhapdale et al, 1989; Sebit, 1996). For its population of 32 million, Kenya has only 16 psychiatrists and 200–300 psychiatric nurses, but there are just over 2000 primary healthcare centres, staffed by general nurses and clinical officers, and the main burden for assessing and caring for people with mental disorders falls upon members of the primary care teams. However, mental disorders are poorly recognised (Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983) and inadequately treated in primary care (Muluka & Dhapdale, 1986). Moreover, Kenyan primary care workers often lack training in mental health (Dhapdale et al, 1989; see also Ndetei, this issue, p. 31).

Type
Original Paper
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 46 - 48
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 2008

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