I have always heard that every human being is a political animal and I have come to believe it. My advocacy experience in mental health has made me conclude that no policy works if the government is not focused. Our major political parties have various programs but no clear-cut ideological fulcrum or strong mission statement which makes our governments to flounder as they respond to traditional basic needs with no appreciable impact on the quality of life of the people.
My definite counsel for any government that must succeed is to adopt mental health as the central policy that should anchor every program. The simple inference is that irrespective of material wealth a country parades, the ultimate pragmatic index of a nation’s wealth is in the mental well-being of the citizen. Public policy is the mission of government and several aspects of public policy have a direct influence on mental health and an indirect effect through environmental factors. Mental disorders are common everywhere in the world and they contribute to disability, deaths, loss of economic productivity and poverty. Even parental illness contributes to intellectual and emotional consequences for the next generation.
For any serious government, the public policy focusing on mental health should include the following; promotion of mental health, prevention of mental disorders, improvement of the health and social functioning of people with mental illness, organizing services for early detection, care, treatment and rehabilitation to reduce premature deaths in people with mental illness, reduction of discrimination, protection of the rights and dignity of people with mental illness, promotion of psychological aspects of general health care, development of human resources and relevant research programs.
When our politicians seek election or re-election, social welfare issues constitute the substance of their manifestos but on winning the election, they focus on programs that will score cheap political points which may not enhance the mental well-being of the people. Government departments with potent influence on mental health include health, social welfare, employment, trade and industry, education, women affairs, police, prisons and criminal justice agencies, housing and finance. The settings for considerable action include workplaces, schools, prisons, cities, rural areas, health services and social services. Other agencies that may be relevant include private businesses, insurance companies, private healthcare companies, the pharmaceutical industry, business generally especially employees organization, places of worship and organized religion including natural and local religious leaders, religious social and healthcare institutions, organizations concerned with poverty, youth, old age, human rights, the user and care groups. This strongly illustrates that mental health as the fulcrum for all other government policies definitely guarantees election and reelection without rigging. Professor Rachel Jenkins who is a leading voice in mental health policy is of the opinion that mental health is related both to the environment in its structural terms but more importantly to the social processes influenced by that setting. Our failed pension schemes and the mental health implication for those elderly men and women who had invested given their youthful years in the service of the country is an immediate example.
Work, unemployment and specific conditions at work have considerable influence on mental health such that rates of illness are higher in the unemployed as youths take to psychoactive drugs for succor which invariably reduces their chance of being eventually employed. Research findings have established that homelessness is associated with severe mental illness. There is a strong relationship between large family size and delinquency, low verbal IQ and poor reading skills especially of those in overcrowded situations. Such situations create excess stimulation and lack of privacy which leads to an inability to control and respond to stimuli. Women by virtue of their increased exposure to acute life events, chronic social stresses, lower social status and income and smaller social networks are often particularly vulnerable to common mental disorders. Impaired maternal mental health care definitely has strong effects on the development of children later in life. Inadequate education contributes to social exclusions because of difficulties in finding work and participating fully in other social roles. People with poor educational attainment are overrepresented in prisons and special hospitals.
The underlying principle of the millennium development goals has its anchorage in mental health as the rally point for the fulfillment of those goals. Ordinarily; the MDGs should have been domesticated in the department of mental health if the government has been proactive. Efforts by the funding agencies designed for treating identifiable mental disorders may not be successful because our state governments have no facility for articulating mental health agenda as the federal government takes into custody about 90% of our mental health workers. However, the bulk of our mental health issues reside within the catchment of the state governments that have failed to articulate policy and infrastructural facilities for handling them.
Dr. Adeoye Oyewole
adeoyewole2000@yahoo.com
+234 803 490 5808 (WhatsApp Only)
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