41% Of Ghanaians Are Psychologically Distressed

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma Aboagye, has said almost half of Ghanaians have psychological distress.

He was speaking in the Ashanti region on the theme, “Addressing The Increasing Health Challenges In Ghana Exploring Diverse Perspectives” on Thursday, February 23, 2023.

The two-day programme was in collaboration with the Christian Service University College.

In his speech, Dr Kuma Aboagye said, “41% of Ghanaians have psychological distress. One in every ten Ghanaians has a mental disorder. 16,000 people have serious mental illness and are on the streets.”

BiomedCentral Public Health defines psychological distress as non-specific symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression.

The director of the GHS said mental health is a neglected and disturbing health issue in Ghana, coupled with inadequate psychologists and psychiatrists.

“These challenges are in addition to the staggering situation where currently the country has only 10% and 19% of its staffing needs to psychiatrists and clinical psychologists…There is the need for improved capacity.”

As a way of improving access to mental health in the face of the few psychiatrists, the GHS said it is embarking on some task-sharing initiatives together with its development partners to promote awareness.

“We cannot produce psychiatrists all of a sudden but we can have enough people to train to do somewhat the things that they {psychiatrists} can do.”

Source: opemsuo.com/Adwoa Serwaa Yonkodo