WHO (2018) states that half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14, but most cases go undetected and untreated. In terms of the burden of the disease among adolescents, depression is the third leading cause while suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29-year-olds.
In Nigeria, youths account for up to 85 per cent of psychiatric cases due to drug and substance abuse. Drug use among youths occurs commonly in other to survive the harsh realities of life or enjoy pleasurable moments (Oyewobi, 2018). In a report published by AllAfrica, Aliogo reported that despite the impact of paediatric mental ailments on children and families, it has unfortunately received little or no attention by stakeholders, health institutions and the federal government.
This years WMHD theme "Young People and Mental Health in a changing world" focuses on ways to look after the mental health of children, adolescents, young adults and to help peers, parents and teachers know how to support them.
A Scoping Review on Knowledge and Attitude to Mental Illnesses in Nigeria by Okpalauwaekwe, Mela, and Oji (2017) revealed that "Social distance" was the most common attitude expressed in articles scoped and "traditional (unorthodox) medicine" was a treatment preference in reference to health seeking behaviours. They further stated that in a country like Nigeria, where poor mental health facilities, poor health outcomes, health inequalities and disparities exist, the need for mental health literacy, and workable health policies are vital.These will significantly reduce stigma and increase health seeking behavior of the mentally ill.
In the bid to raise more awareness on how the state of an individual’s mental health affects his/her everyday activities, Mentally Aware Nigeria Initiative (MANI) Nigeria’s largest and most active mental health non-profit network is organizing a month-long online summit on 3 major social media platforms. One of these platforms is WhatsApp Messenger; where they intend to organize 5 sessions across 50 groups of 100 participants each for every session.
Register here for the largest virtual mental health summit in Africa.
#MANIVIRTUALCON18 #MANIVC2018
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