Rotary Clubs hold Mental Fair to raise funds for the Occupational Therapy Unit of Pantang Hospital

The Rotary Club of Accra Morning Tide and the Rotary Club of Accra-West has partnered with the Rotaract Club of Accra-Adabraka, to hold a mental fair aimed at raising funds to renovate the Occupational Therapy Unit of the Pantang Hospital in Accra. The event which took place on Saturday, October 15, 2022 was part of activities scheduled by the Clubs to mark this year’s World Mental Health Day which fell on October 10. It brought together leading members of the Rotary Club in the country.

The District Governor Nominee (DGN) for Rotary International District 9102, Dave Amankwah, in his remarks on mental health and the efforts being taken by Rotary to address some of the related pertinent issues among others revealed that “the apparent cost to the economy as a result of distress mental health conditions is in excess of GHS 8 Billion or 7% of our Gross Domestic Product, and this is indeed quite alarming, hence the need for considerable efforts to be channeled towards alleviating the situation.”

He said good mental health is important because “it makes us resilient to illness; provides a feel good factor and we simply function better and are more positive in our relationships with our families, within our workplace and with those around us.”

The Fair is targeted at the Occupational Therapy Unit of the Pantang Hospital with the objective of raising funds for a sitting area to encourage outdoor therapy through vocational experiences in dressmaking, weaving, ceramics, among others.

Service Project Director of Rotary Club of Accra Morning Tide, Jamal Cheti Alimeyawu said the choice to support Mental Health is because of the fact that it is often a neglected area of health in communities with a lot of stigma attached to it due to lack of information and sometimes superstition which makes it difficult for mental health patients to gain the acceptance and support they need to thrive.

He said the Occupational Therapy Department aims at getting mental health patients to regain their functionality effectively in the community following discharge from the hospital. However, this aim is short-lived due to the lack of resources to effectively carry out effective interventions and the dilapidated state of the building.

“Proceeds from this fair will go towards a sitting area in the two courtyards for service users to be able to utilise the outdoor for their work. In the long term, we hope to raise funds to renovate the whole unit.  Your partnership and support will go a long way to help us renovate the unit and also help to reduce some of the inequalities mental health service users face in our communities,” he noted.

A Deputy Director of Health Promotion at the Mental Health Authority (MHA), Dr Yaw Amankwa Arthur, who represented the Chief Executive, Prof. Akwasi Osei, expressed the Authority’s excitement at the initiative by the Rotary clubs to ensure that the mental health and well-being of patients are enhanced, because it would hasten the process of their recovery and reintegration back into the society.

“We appreciate the role that the different clubs of Rotary are playing, where mental health and wellbeing will now be seen as part of our daily lives, a departure from what used to be the distant mystical condition suffered by “them” and not us. Indeed, good mental health is fundamental for human wellbeing. It enables people to realize their potential, develop and maintain positive relationships, cope with life challenges and stresses, work productively and make a positive contribution to their communities.”

He lamented the fact mental health has often been seen as secondary to physical health, and has therefore not been given enough priority. He said it is the underlining concept that underpinned this year’s mental health day’s theme celebration which is “Make mental health and well-being for all, a global priority”.

“This theme serves as a clarion call for all of us, to prioritize our mental health and wellbeing,” he stated.

“It is estimated that around 1 billion people live with a mental health or substance use disorder globally. This comes at a cost both to the people affected, our societies and the world economy. According to the WHO, lost productivity resulting from depression and anxiety alone costs the global economy US$ 1 trillion each year. Again, people’s mental health challenges have been further exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and its related lockdowns and regulations, especially in vulnerable populations — including young people, elderly and people living with pre-existing mental health conditions. It therefore behoves on us as key stakeholders in the mental health space to strive to forge ahead in improving on the quality of care offered in our facilities to help bridge the inequities brought about by the recent world order.

“On our part as an Authority, we shall continue to engage key stakeholders to push for the establishment of the Mental Health Levy, since it is the way we can significantly mitigate the funding challenges baffling the Authority and project us to executing our mandate very well.

It is the hope of the MHA that this initiative would cause changes in the lives of our patients’ community.

Speaking on the topic ‘I am Not my Mental Illness and Mental Illness is not Me’ the Special Guest Speaker, Dr Grace Owusu Aboagye debunked the assertion that a person experiencing mental illness is a mental illness.

She also advised persons living with mental illness, their relatives and all Ghanaians, that they should not allow symptoms of poor mental health to take over their life or that of their loved ones.

“The goal of treatment is not to silence the person or keep him or her locked up but to return the person back to occupational and social functioning. The brain is a super computer,” she noted.

Earlier in his address, the Director of the Pantang Hospital, Dr Frank Barning, said even though there are affordable and effective interventions to prevent and treat mental disorders, the treatment gap for Ghana is estimated to be 85%.

“And this why we should be even more concerned, individuals who are depressed but not receiving treatment for the condition consume 2-4 times the healthcare resources than any other individual. They are also twice as likely to develop CAD, stroke and more than 4 times likely to die within 6 months from MI. It is also a fact that people suffering from mental disorders die 10 years earlier than the general population,” he stated.

He said despite all these statistics, Mental Health continues to be the most neglected non-communicable disease globally and even worse in sub-Saharan Africa.

“In Ghana, only 2.2% of the total health budget is spent on Mental Health. For example, this year, Pantang Hospital has received only 7% of its total allocated budget and already, we are in October. This clearly paints a picture of where our priorities lie as a country.

He said it is imperative without emphasis that mental health and wellbeing affect all aspect of our life hence conscious national effort must be taken to make it a national priority and invest adequately in it.

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that about 1.1 billion people suffer from mental and substance use disorders globally and in Ghana, it is about 15% of the population.

In 2019 the WHO estimated that 60% of the world’s population is in work and 15% of that population in work are estimated to have a mental disorder.

Depression and anxiety – the silent pandemics account for a loss of 12 billion working days every year and at a cost of $1 trillion dollars per a year in lost productivity.

Rotary International is a non-political, non-religious and humanitarian service organisation which brings together business and professional leaders in order to provide community service, promote integrity, and advance goodwill, peace, and understanding in the world.

There were some beautiful arts and crafts on sale at the fair. The Rotaract club of Adabraka also displayed a stand and sold some beautiful handiwork. There were raffle tickets with some of the participants winning some ‘mega’ prices.

By Jeorge Wilson Kingson