The National Coordinator of the National Mental Health Programme at the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Tunde Ojo, on Monday, said the treatment gap in mental health cases is about 90 per cent.
Ojo said this at a press briefing in commemoration of the 2023 World Suicide Prevention Day in Abuja, with the theme “Creating Hope Through Action.”
Every year, World Suicide Prevention Day is commemorated on September 10, to raise awareness that suicide is preventable.
According to the cordinator, the federal neuropsychiatry hospitals in the country have increased from eight to 10 in the last two years, and Nigeria has made progress in addressing suicide prevention and the mental well-being of the population.
“It is not just that they are not enough, but the truth is that that belongs to the past. The mental health treatment gap in Nigeria is like 90 per cent. It means that for every 10 people who need mental health services, only one of them is able to get it because with the few services that are available and with the few human resources, the japa syndrome, all of them are in the cities, but the major part of our population are in the rural areas.
“Our approach going forward is the integration of mental health into existing programmes, and the primary health care level because that is closest to the people, and that is a public health and that is destigmatising it and taking it to the last mile, and that is what I believe is the direction that the government of the country is taking,” he said.
