An NGO, Comprehensive Community Mental Health Programme (CCMHP), has trained 83 health workers on proper assessment and management of mental health patients in Benue State.
Philip Ode, the state coordinator, disclosed this at the end of their Five-Day training workshop tagged “Primary Healthcare Workers on mhGap-IG” in Gboko, Benue State.
Ode explained that the training was in line with the National Council on Health meeting 2013 resolution on the implementation of mhGap-IG in Nigeria.
He said that mhGAP implementation plan according to the Council, focuses on coordination, service delivery, monitoring and evaluation of the mhGAP-IG across the country.
He further explained that the training was on four selected areas for the two categories of health workers selected for the programme in the state.
“A total numbers of 84 persons (6 mental health specialists and 78 non-mental health specialists are undergoing training on 4 mhGAP-IG priority conditions in mental healthcare.
“These priority conditions include: depression, psychosis, epilepsy and alcohol/substance abuse disorders.
“So far, 5 specialists, 2 psychiatrists, 1 clinical psychologist and 2 psychiatric nurses have been trained to cascade the training to non- specialist across the state.
“And 39 primary healthcare workers have also been trained on proper assessment and management of the four priority conditions using the mhGAP-IG programme in the state” the statement said.
He further said that the specialists were selected from the the Federal Medical Centre Makurdi, Benue State Teaching Hospital Makurdi and Health Restoration Centre for Psychiatric Illness, Agboke respectively.
He said that the non-mental health specialists were selected from the 23 local government areas in the state.
Ode commend the Benue State Government and the and the local government councils for their support specifically for allowing their community health workers to participate in the programme in the state.
Ode, later, while presenting a paper on the topic “issues of child and vulnerable adult protection” lamented that many Nigerians were yet to accept that children has their rights.
“Child abuse or maltreatment constitutes all forms of physical and emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or other forms of exploitation resulting to actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival and development in general.
“Many of us here in Africa especially in Nigeria, are yet to believe that the children have rights and so can not be abused, to them what others call abuse is normal way of child training.
“Though many of them is because of their religious views, they do not want to talk about these abuses to save their family name and this is encouraging the act in the society.
He explained that vulnerable adults were people who were unable to physically protect themselves from significant harm or exploitation.
Speaking to BusinessDay, Omenka Agburu, a participant, said they were trained on screening, identification, diagnosing and management of mental illness in their various health facilities and communities in the state.
Agburu said that they were also trained on the necessary skills to health dedicate the carer and members of the family on the needs and support to be given the clients.
He said that with the training had prepared them on general mental health illness adding that they were ready to face the challenges ahead.
Barnes Agirigi
