mentalhealthnigeria.org

A Concept Paper on

2010 World Mental Health Day

By: MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION, NIGERIA

Theme: PROMOTING WELL-BEING: MENTAL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS

Background

World Mental Health Day celebration is an international day set aside by the United Nation to jointly advocate on mental health issue, the day was separated from the original international health day just to focus more on mental health issue, since there is no Health without Mental Health.

World Mental Health Day was observed for the first time on the 10 of October 1992. It started as an annual activity of the World Federation for Mental Health (WFMH) by the then Deputy Secretary General Richard Hunter with the aims of promoting mental health advocacy and educating the public on relevant issues.

By 2020, mental health problems are set to increase due to the pace of modern living. Also, More than 75% of people suffering from mental disorders in the developing world receive no treatment or care. Across Africa for example, 9 out of 10 people suffering from epilepsy go untreated, unable to access simple and inexpensive anticonvulsant drugs (WHO).

Mental health is a major health concern that impacts all of us, worldwide. According to Mental Health Foundation, UK

• 1 out of 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year
• Mixed anxiety and depression is the most common mental disorder in the world
• Women are more likely to have been treated for a mental health problem than men
• About 10% of children have a mental health problem at one time or the order
• Only one in 10 prisoners has no mental disorder.

In Nigeria the problem is multi faceted, aside from the backwardness in the mental health awareness and policy implementation, the decay health mechanism and the shocking scanty population of mental health experts. Findings also revealed that the availability of mental health resources in Nigeria is poor due to scarcity, competing health problems, and the low priority given to mental health issues by the government. Modern psychiatric care is developing, but yet, most people have no access to it because they cannot afford the treatment and facilities are mainly concentrated in large urban centers.

Since there is no health without mental health, Mental Health Foundation, Nigeria has been relentless in pioneering mental health advocacy and care in Nigeria.  Our 2010 World Mental Health Day celebration would sensitize the public, government, policy makers and all other health stakeholder on mental health issues.
Program Plan

Day One: Friday, 8^th October

Time: 9am – 12noon

Proposed Route: LTV Agidingbi, to LASG Secretariat Alausa Ikeja

Description of Activity: Advocacy Walk with notable celebrities, stakeholders and the public using informative placards on mental health issues and statistics. Visits to Lagos State Television and the State Secretariat are the strategies that would be employed to raise media collaborations and government support in addressing the mental health issues.

Day Two: Saturday 9^th October

Time: 9am – 2pm

Proposed Venue: Rotunda Hall, National Library, OPPOSITE CASINO CINEMA, ALAGOMEJI, YABA, LAGOS.

Description of Activity: Workshop and Simulation Dialogue; a day devoted to teaching and training of the populace on “PROMOTING WELL-BEING: MENTAL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS’’. Amidst other activities of the day, the following papers would be delivered:

• Integrated Care for long term mental illnesses in Nigeria; The Need, Importance, Challenges and Benefits.

The objective of this paper is to highlight what Governments, Mental Health Clinicians and Providers, Primary and Specialty Care Physicians, Civil Society Organizations, Media, general Public, Patients and Families can do to promote better care and outcomes to living with long term illnesses.

• The Social Relevance of Mental Health.

This paper creates an interactive forum towards examining the effects of stigmatization, unemployment & hardship resulting from the current economic and financial crisis on the country. Special attention would be placed on examining the problems and challenges associated with mental health in Nigeria.

• Proven strategies for promoting emotional and mental well-being.

This paper presents the importance of understanding the link between long-term physical health and mental illness towards reducing stigma, creating stronger support systems and building resilience.

Way Forward and Rap Up:

At the end of the whole workshop and advocacy walk, we would examines thoroughly all the issues raised during the two days events, placing special attention here again on the opportunities for mental health and other related health organization and increased modalities for engaging and creating lasting change that our people deserves.

Objectives:

• To create More Awareness on mental health issues.
• To encourage the participation of the general public towards achieving a Healthy Nation.

• To motivate and connect with potential support groups and relative stakeholders.
• To recognize the impressive contribution of corporate bodies and individuals on mental health development in Nigeria.

Target Group:

Health Experts, Civil Society Organizations, Corporate organizations, Public and Government Sector, Academic Institutions, General Populace and Media.

Expected Outcomes:

• Draw more supports from Government and other stakeholders for Mental Health development in Nigeria.
• Recommendations on how to improve mental health care and wellbeing.

Knowledge Partners:

• World Health Organization
• Lagos State University Teaching Hospital

Proposed Media Partners:

LTV, Silverbird TV, TVC, NTA 5, Channels, Radio Nigeria, Radio Lagos, Inspiration fm, Wazobia fm, Voice of Nigeria, The Nation, Daily Sun, Punch and Guardian.

Partnership/Sponsorship Scope:

With regards to the policy of Mental Health Foundation on Accountability and Transparency, corporate partnerships, supports and sponsorships of the 2010 World Mental Health Day have been designed to accommodate following platforms:

1. SUPPORT: We solicit kind supports or sponsorship of the project needs stated below. Partners on this platform are listed on all printed materials and are acknowledged in all media promos as supporters of the laudable program.

1. FULL PARTNERSHIP: The 2010 World Mental Health Day program is powered by this class of partners. This platform comes with the opportunities to brand either section, day or the whole event, secure a stand at the event to show product or services, corporate nomination for Mental Health Development Award, and many more. Terms and conditions for this category are flexible and are obtainable on interest.

S/N	Project Needs	Possible Source	Note
1	Hall and Decorations
2	PA system and Projector	RIC Network Ltd,
3	Printed Materials; brochure, certificate, etc
4	Publicity materials; banners, fliers, placards, etc	Moving Media Ltd,
5	Truck and Mini bus
6	Photography and Video coverage
7	Media
8	Branded materials; T-shirts, Fez Caps, Wrist band etc
9	Refreshment; chewing gum, drinks and lunch pack
10	Operational Logistics
11	Administrative and Contingency

Note: Kindly tick any project need you are interested in either providing in kind or sponsoring.

Contact Persons
Mrs Adenike Oladipo Head, PR & Communications Mental Health Foundation 16, Harvey Road, Yaba Lagos, Nigeria. Tel: +234805-414-0276 Email: [email protected] Website: www.mentalhealthnigeria.org	Mr Owoyemi Emmanuel CEO Mental Health Foundation 16, Harvey Road, Yaba Lagos, Nigeria. Email: [email protected] Website: www.mentalhealthnigeria.org

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.

Signed

Mental Health Foundation

Theme: PROMOTING WELL – BEING: MENTAL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL ILLNESS

Program Plan

Day One: Friday, 8th October

Time: 9am-12noon

Proposed Route: LTV Agidingbi, to LASG Secretariat Alausa Ikeja

Description of Activity: Advocacy Walk with notable celebrities, stakeholders and the public using informative placards on mental health issues and statistics. Visits to Lagos State Television and the State Secretariat are the strategies that would be employed to raise media collaborations and government support in addressing the mental health issues.

Day Two: Saturday, 9th October

Time: 9am-2pm

Proposed Venue: Rotunda Hall,  National Library, Opposite Casino Cinema, Alagomeji, Yaba, Lagos

Description of Activity: Workshop and Simulation Dialogue; a day devoted to teaching and training of stakeholders and the populace. Amidst other activities, keynote addresses and papers would be delivered.

Project Title: Mental Health Care on Wheels.
Project Location: Lagos State, Nigeria.
The Care on Wheels project is strategically designed to initiate a strong mental health framework alongside the Lagos mega city plans. With respect to the huge commercial activities, unique social life, ever-growing population, competitions and the rates of associated emotional stress and mental illness in Nigeria, it is imperative to pioneer community based mental health education, diagnosis, treatment and referral.
On one hand, a strong advocacy on awareness of mental health issues as a vital integral element of every individual’s overall health and well being, and easy accessibility to treatments and prevention of mental illness is germane to the sustainability of Lagos mega city plans and developments.

Conclusively, a mobile care project directed to the ever moving Lagosians is an effective avenue of addressing the enormous aggregation of little issues that lie in the thin line between sanity and insanity.

Rationale
Mental health remains an issue that has experienced virtually no meaningful growth in Nigeria since the past two decades. The studies of mental health problems in the 1990s, showed that only very small proportion of people (less than 20%) receive basic care that would help them. This record is still the same after about nineteen years. Most recently, there are increasing trend of mental illnesses and associated sights of naked people in public places. Shockingly, there are 0.4 psychiatric beds per 10,000 Nigerian populations as against the increasing economic hardship inflicting people with high quantum of stress and severe emotional challenges. The deplorable state of the economic conditions of an average Nigerian living below poverty level, the rate of stigmatization of mental illness victims and the low public awareness on mental health issues, reduces the capacity to access drugs and treatment of mental illnesses in Nigeria.
The care on wheels project is introduced to increase the accessibility to mental health; prevention, treatment and education on mental illnesses. It would also help drastically in reducing the current rate of mental illness and associated deaths in Lagos and preserve the human intellectual capacities that would profit the Lagos mega city development process.

Project Duration: The proposed project is scheduled to run for six months from February, 2010 – August, 2010 covering the whole 57 LGAs/LCDAs of Lagos state in three phases.

Project Goal
To build human capacities towards sustaining sound overall health despite daily fierce challenges of economic hardship/Lagos life, and reduce the occurrence of mental illness and associated death cases.

Project Objectives
Our Care on Wheels project will provide house-to-house free sensitization, diagnosis and treatment to Lagos inhabitants and visitors across the Fifty-Seven Local Government and Local Council Development Areas of Lagos State.

Project Strategy
The Care on Wheels project uses the platforms of the Lagos State Ministry of Health in healthcare delivery to the grassroots through the LGAs/LCDAs and the primary health centers to reach out to the targeted Lagos populations. A team of Mental Health professionals, comprising of Psychiatrists, Clinical psychologists, Psychotherapists, Counselors and pharmacists are stationed in focused communities while mobile care-giving team moves from house to house and street to street from Mondays to Saturdays through out the project duration.

Potential Partners Project Needs
• Lagos State Government
• Communication Companies
• Media Organizations
• Mental Health Organizations
• Food and Beverages Companies
• Pharmaceutical Companies • NGOs/FBOs/CBOs
• International Organizations • Drugs
• Corporate Bodies • Media Publicities, (media promos, Roll-up Banners, Back Drops etc)
• Volunteers (Mental Health Care-givers/Professionals/Students)
• Financial Support • Refreshments
• Mobile Medical Laboratory & equipments
• Souvenirs, IEC materials, Promotional Materials et.c
Innovations

In the recent history of medical care in Nigeria, limited efforts had been directed to improving mental health services in the grassroots. Care on Wheels aside from the fact that it offers free diagnosis, drugs and relative treatment to the grassroots; it also presents standby psychiatrists and psychologists in all Lagos State Government hospitals to attend to referred cases with impressive reduction in hospital charges.

Expected Results
• Reduction in cases of suicide, mental illness and deaths in Lagos.
• Generation of reliable up to data statistics and research data on mental health in Lagos state.
• Preservation of human dignity as solicited by the United Nations declaration of human rights.
• Establishment of a framework for the reintegration victims of mental into the families and the society at large.
• Mass education and awareness on mental health issues and prevention.
• Great reduction in stigmatization and violation of rights of victims.
• Quality access to mental health information and care for the poor Lagosians grassroots.
• Establishment of varieties of sustainability strategies for the Lagos mega city plans via preservation of its intellectual capacities.

Partnership Scope
The following are designed collaborations platforms:
1. SUPPORT: We solicit kind supports of the needs stated above. Partners on this platform are listed on all printed materials and are acknowledged in all media promos as supporters of the laudable project.
2. ASSOCIATE: The Care on Wheels project is powered by this class of partner. Below are the classes of the involvement in this group.
Silver Associate
With a donation of One million Naira only, associate in this category is acknowledged in all media promos and project materials, earns 5% workshop fee reduction for unlimited staff participation in the corporate executive sessions of the Emotional Development Academy, receives the full project report and Certificate of Honour in Mental Health Advocacy endorsed by the President, Mental Health Foundation and the Honorable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Health.
Gold Associate
With a donation of Five million Naira only, associate in this category is acknowledged in all media promos and project materials, earns a corporate stand at the event, 10% workshop fee reduction for unlimited staff participation in the corporate executive sessions of the Emotional Development Academy, receives the full project report and Certificate of Honour in Mental Health Advocacy endorsed by the President, Mental Health Foundation and the Honorable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Health.
Platinum Associate
With a donation of Ten million Naira only, associate in this category is acknowledged in all media promos and project materials, sits as panelist at the press conference on the project, attends media interviews on TVs and Radios alongside invited MHF representatives, declares project open alongside invited special dignitaries, earns a corporate stand at the event, 20% workshop fee reduction for unlimited staff participation in the corporate executive sessions of the Emotional Development Academy, receives the full project report and Certificate of Honour in Mental Health Advocacy endorsed by the President, Mental Health Foundation and the Honorable Commissioner, Lagos State Ministry of Health.

Organizational Background
MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION is a Non Governmental Organization based in Lagos, Nigeria. It was duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission in 2007, RC No 25474. Its administration and network comprise of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, educationists, inspirational writers and psycho-dynamic counselors, coupled with a fleet of dynamic young non-religious motivational speakers who work assiduously in helping all people prevent and overcome mental disorders, providing adequate mental health information, education, and support for people living with either mild or severe mental disorders.

Project Administration
Consultant Psychiatrist
Dr Abiodun Adewuya (M.B.Ch.B., F.W.A.C.P., F.M.C. Psych) is a world renowned Consultant Psychiatrist. He is the head of department, Department of Behavioral Medicine, Lagos State College of Medicine, and Lagos State Teaching Hospital. He has over 40 academic publications in indexed journals and an editorial board member of 4 international journals on psychiatry. He is a recipient of several coveted awards including Elli Lilly Young investigators fellowship award in Bipolar disorders, GSK-ISBD Young researcher travel award in Bipolar disorders and CINP Rafaelsen Young Investigators travel award to mention a few.

Consultant Psychiatrist/Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Owoeye Olugbenga Adekile (M.B.Ch.B., F.M.C. Psych) is a frontline Consultant Psychiatrist and Clinical Psychologist with strong interests in drug addiction management and rehabilitation. He is the Head of Emergency Unit, Consultant Psychiatrist at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Lagos. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from Obafemi Awolowo University in 1994 and Masters in Clinical Psychologist from University of Lagos in 2003. He is a Fellow of National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and member of Chartered Institute of Arbitration in Nigeria. He is a lecturer and an examiner at the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria. He is a researcher and has over 10 publications to his credit.

Medical Consultant
Dr. (Mrs.) Dare Tanko is a medical doctor- in general practice for the past 20 years. She is the current Director of Programs, Emotional Development Academy of the Mental Health Foundation. She holds her BSc (Hons) in Health Sciences (1985) from the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (1988) Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife and Postgraduate Diploma in Development Admin (June 2008). Her dynamism in active medical service and track record in social works brought her as a Volunteer Technical Expert to the Directorate of Technical Aid Corps, Abuja between Oct., 2004 – Oct 2006, and a two – year volunteer services to the Republic of Seychelles on primary health care setting – running busy general outpatient clinic, chronic case clinic and the district hospital. Participant in relevant district health programs – MCH, FP, house calls as well as providing documentation and feedback for statistical purposes.

Psychiatric Nursing Consultant
Mrs Ayannike Y. Ojo is the Chief Nursing Officer of the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba.

Project Director
Femi Gideon Aderibigbe (MSc, NICSA) is a social reformer, impact speaker cum writer and a developmental practitioner par excellence. He is a Chartered Administrator and Microbiologist by education, an experienced project manager, proposal writing expert and project development consultant with several awards to his credit. He is currently the Executive Governor of the Nigerian Youth League Lagos Chapter and Executive Director, Crystarib Africa Ltd/Gte. His unique philosophy of managing African youths’ emotion as a tool to curbing the surge of psychosocial problems in Africa coupled with his impressive creativity, to list a few, brought him as a Youth Representative aboard LASG/CSO Partnership forum, Youth Focal Person, Working Committee on the Code of Common Principles and Standards for NGOs in Nigeria, and an enviable role of a Focal Person in charge of Epe & Mushin LGAs, and Odiolowo-Ojuwoye LCDA in the Coalition for Issue-Based Politics and Good Governance.

Organizational Contact
Mental Health Foundation Nigeria
16, Harvey Road, Sabo-Yaba, Lagos State.
Tel.:+234-17369871
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.mentalhealthnigeria.org

Contact Persons
Emmanuel Owoyemi (Mr.)CEO
Mental Health Foundation

Femi Gideon AderibigbeProject Director
Care on Wheels (Lagos)
Tel.: +234-803-424-1889

Copyright Statement:
No part of this Concept Note may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise – without the prior written permission from MENTAL HEALTH FOUNDATION.

(Improvement in service delivery)
Mental Health Foundation was there.
- The stakeholder meeting held on the 17th of November 2009 at the United Nations Building in Abuja was meant to address the issue of policy reform in Mental health and mental Health service delivery.
-Three Documents were reviewed and updated for upward presentation to the Federal Ministry of Health and subsequently the House of Assembly. These documents are:-
Doc 1-
Mental Health Policy: – this is a broad policy on what government needs to be doing.
Doc 2-
Mental Health Programme: – This document addresses the various programmes with objectives, Activities, Output, Time frame, Indicators, Resources required e.t.c for proper mental health service delivery.
Doc 3-
Mental Health Law or Legislators which addresses patient’s right and protection as well as Public protection.
Presently there are problem like:-
- Gross patient and human right abuse.
- Less than 20% of those challenged have access to care.
- Job or employment discrimination.
- High level stigmatization of the mentally ill.
- A lot of people with mental health problems in prisons are totally not cared for.
- The remand homes are also places where there are serious mental health Issues.
- Poor federal and states funding for mental health. e.t.c
Call to Action
The present state of our Nation and the attendant depressive situations all over the country calls for a concerted effort by the citizenry to give priority to Mental Health issues, reforms, access and service delivery. Let us all rise up and contribute to the reforms going on, and also persuade our National Assembly to speedily pass the bills on mental health policy, Mental Health Law or Legislation and Mental Health programme for Nigeria.
Call for a draft now, call , [email protected]