Beneficiaries of mental health support on the path of total recovery

“I was separated from people I knew. Everyone had been displaced and there were lots of killings, and uncertainty, we could not go to the farm or market because of fear.

At some point, I lost it, says 59 years old Hajara Adamu, a resident of Jere Local Government Area (LGA), Borno State.

In Borno state, thousands of people have been displaced by the humanitarian crisis resulting to mental and physical suffering. Over 2 million people have been displaced, forcing them to abandon their homes and possessions and their livelihood sources.

For Mrs Hajara, her mental health deteriorated to the extent that she lost the ability to work and support her family and isolated herself after experiencing a traumatic event.

Narrating the experience she said her family told her after she  got better  due to treatment that she had lost her mind and could not do anything for myself and depended on my children to bathe, feed, and cater for me,

“They had to take me to the  hospital (Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital) where I started treatment. As I got better, I was referred to the health facility (Mala-Kachallah Primary Healthcare), in Maiduguri, Borno State.

“I am happy with the medical attention I am receiving at the health facility. The health workers are very welcoming, and not judgmental and the prescribed drugs prescribed are given to me free of charge.

This has made it easy for me to continue my treatment because I would not have been able to afford it. I am beginning to understand what happened to me.  Everything is not yet perfect, but I have started a petty trade, and for the first time in a while, now I have some hope for the future,” she said.

To mitigate the effect of the crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been providing mental health care support as part of its ongoing health care response in Borno state.

The WHO Northeast Emergency Manager, Dr Richard Lako said WHO is providing specialized mental health care services and psychosocial support to the vulnerable people to speed up their recovery from the negative impact of the  humanitarian crisis.

Dr Lako said  good  mental health and well-being are crucial for leading a fulfilling life.

“With funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Sahel project, WHO has continued to provide mental health services to the vulnerable people in the state.

From January to November 2022, WHO reached 12,541 affected people with specialized mental healthcare services and provided 176,354 beneficiaries with psychosocial support in Borno state.

To facilitate the services,  WHO has built the capacities of more than 150 healthcare workers including mental health nurses on mental healthcare strategies in emergency settings.

In appreciation of the intervention,  the Borno State Deputy Director for Emergency Medical Response on Humanitarian Services, Mallam Muhammad Dauda Jamil, said many vulnerable people in the state have benefitted from the WHO supported services  which includes the integration of psycho-social support, and mental health with gender-based violence (GBV)services and a component of COVID-19 response targeting the hard-to-reach areas as well.

“WHO is the leading organization providing specialized mental healthcare across 15 LGAs and we are grateful for its unwavering support in implementing numerous health services in Borno state, he said.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of World Health Organization (WHO) - Nigeria.