- Humanizing mental health helps in developing a greater understanding and appropriate approach to support.
Image: Kevin Ajuna
The Mission Director USAID/Uganda Daniele Nyirandutiye says it is important to humanize mental health to help develop a greater understanding and appropriate approach to support.
In an exclusive interview with Capital FM she mentions that open communication and channels in communities, families or work places do go a long way in reducing cases of mental health.
“It is important for society to have family, networks and communities that they can turn to for help in times of stress. We all go through the same challenges in life such as a loss of a loved one, a job, lack of money and many more, so there is no need to stigmatize these but rather recognize that they affect us differently hence the importance to help people digest such emotions without be stigmatized, she said.”
Capital FM Uganda News Anchor Patricia Osman in Conversation with USAID/Uganda Mission Director Daniele Nyirandutiye on Advancing Mental Health Programs.
Now to foster such support USAID has partnered with Strong Minds, a mental health non-governmental organization and global leader in providing community-based, evidence-informed affordable mental health services.
The three-year, USD 1 million first-ever mental health-focused project in Uganda will be conducted in 16 districts across the country and comes at a time when Uganda is battling an increasing mental illness crisis.
Data from 2020 and 2022 show that Uganda is ranked among the top six African countries in rates of depressive disorders and has the second-highest suicide rate among East African males ages 18-35.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been singled out as one of the factors leading to the increase in mental disorder cases as many lost livelihoods in employment, businesses, and death of loved ones, increased anxiety, and depressive disorders.
Other factors include alcohol and drug abuse among others.
“The U.S. government recognizes that good mental health is fundamental to achieving and sustaining development objectives, in Uganda and around the world,” In Uganda alone we are integrating mental health in all the work that we do to make sure that services are brought closer to the people. Nyirandutiye said.
“We are using an already tasted and proved method locally. We are training average individuals in the community who able to identify early signs of mental health and where the case is severe they can be able to advise for better health care management in the health facilities,” She adds.
People living with untreated mental health issues are statistically less physically healthy, have lower economic and academic achievement, and are more likely to be crime victims and to be recruited into criminal or extremist activity.
Unaddressed mental health issues can harm individuals, families, and societies, and considerably influence development results.
“It is important for society to have family, networks and communities that they can turn to for help in times of stress. We all go through the same challenges in life such as a loss of a loved one, a job, lack of money and many more, so there is no need to stigmatize these but rather recognize that they affect us differently hence the importance to help people digest such emotions without be stigmatized, she said.”
Now to foster such support USAID has partnered with Strong Minds, a mental health non-governmental organization and global leader in providing community-based, evidence-informed affordable mental health services.
The three-year, USD 1 million first-ever mental health-focused project in Uganda will be conducted in 16 districts across the country and comes at a time when Uganda is battling an increasing mental illness crisis.
Data from 2020 and 2022 show that Uganda is ranked among the top six African countries in rates of depressive disorders and has the second-highest suicide rate among East African males ages 18-35.
The COVID-19 pandemic has been singled out as one of the factors leading to the increase in mental disorder cases as many lost livelihoods in employment, businesses, and death of loved ones, increased anxiety, and depressive disorders.
Other factors include alcohol and drug abuse among others.
“The U.S. government recognizes that good mental health is fundamental to achieving and sustaining development objectives, in Uganda and around the world,” In Uganda alone we are integrating mental health in all the work that we do to make sure that services are brought closer to the people. Nyirandutiye said.
“We are using an already tasted and proved method locally. We are training average individuals in the community who able to identify early signs of mental health and where the case is severe they can be able to advise for better health care management in the health facilities,” She adds.
People living with untreated mental health issues are statistically less physically healthy, have lower economic and academic achievement, and are more likely to be crime victims and to be recruited into criminal or extremist activity.
Unaddressed mental health issues can harm individuals, families, and societies, and considerably influence development results.