The Savannah Regional health Directorate has on Wednesday 26th October, 2022 held an inception meeting with stakeholders on mental health care in Damongo, the savannah regional capital.
The inception meeting was geared towards developing a regional plan to aid the effective implementation to enhance mental health care delivery in the region.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) establishment of the Director General’s Special Initiative for Mental Health in Ghana is expected to redefine and address gaps in the country’s mental healthcare delivery and also seeks to get 100 million people to have access to quality and affordable mental health in 12 countries around the world.
The vision of the initiative is to ensure that all people in the target population in the selected regions achieve the highest standard of mental health care services and well-being of the affected persons.
Ahead of it’s implementation in Ghana, the WHO assisted Ghana to develop a national implementation plan and is currently assisting the country’s six new regions in the development of their regional plans towards effective implementation.
In a welcome address, the Savannah regional deputy Director for health services in charge of public health, Dr. Michael Twum Biredu explained that about a quarter of the world’s population at one time or the other has some mental health issues to deal with and to adequately respond to the issues of the population, the Director General of the World Health Organization ( WHO ) came up with a special initiative to help advance mental health policies and interventions for individuals with mental health condition through which the inception meeting was being held in other to introduce the new enhanced approach to the stakeholders and to also have some deliberations on developing a good regional plan as to the implementation of the initiative on mental health in the region.
Dr. Biredu also explained that, unlike other illnesses that people report at health facilities, people feel reluctant to visit health facilities when they have issues that has to do with their mental health.
He appealed to the stakeholders to play keen attention to the facilitators in their presentations and also urged them to put up their best so as to plan together the activities that are needed to develop the plan for the implemention of the world Health Organization Director General special initiative on mental health in the region.
The program officer in charge of Non-communicable diseases at the World Health Organisation Ghana country office, Dr. Joana Ansong expressed gratitude to the stakeholders for being part of the process of developing the Savannah regional plans which is to be implemented to ensure that mental health services are available and accessible to everyone else who needs the services of mental health service delivery.
Dr. Joana Ansong explained that, mental health has been one of the neglected areas in the country which received less attention and so for the World Health Organization ( WHO ), mental health is one of their priority areas which the are very passionate about and will want to focus on and so, the Director General sourced for support from Donors to be able to put in the inception intervention together.
She said the Government of Ghana has shown a lot of political will and commitment for mental health by passing the mental health act and the mental health legislative instrument ( LI ) some few years ago.
She added that, the Government has also demonstrated it’s commitment by setting up the mental health Authority, an agency under the ministry of health responsible to ensuring that mental health system structure service delivery are strengthened at the various levels of care.
Dr. Joana further explained that, the initiative is being implemented in two West African countries which includes Ghana and Zimbabwe but zoned to four regions in Ghana including the Savannah, Western – North, Oti and Ahafo regions which are newly established regions in other to give the World Health Organization ( WHO ) an opportunity to further strengthen mental health system structure service delivery in those newly curved regions.
She again added that, they are also looking forward to internal opportunities for resource mobilisation in partnership with government and all other health partners currently working in Ghana to be able to scale up the initiative to the remaining regions.
On sustaining the initiative, Dr. Joana said they have engaged with government to own the processes in other to sustain the gains made by the World Health Organisation who by some extent provided the technical expertise towards the realization of the initiative.
The meeting was graced by some regional heads of departments, Municipal and District Directors of health, traditional Authorities, the clergy, heads of security services among others.
Source : Padfm.com.gh/Kumatey Gorden/0243531604
