Be Empathetic With Each Other, To Free Environment From Mental Health Issues – Prof Pate

By Fatima Saka

The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Prof Muhammed Ali Pate has urged the citizens to be empathetic with each other, saying that Mental Health is an illness that could affect anybody, either directly or indirectly, that the illness should be criminalized.

Hereby calling on individuals participation, stakeholders and relevant actors both in public and private sectors to make the environment free from mental health issues.

The Coordinating Minister made this appealed on Tuesday in Abuja at the commemoration of 2023 World Health Day, added that “young people are the future of this country, and mental health can’t take them away from us.”

Revolving around the theme: ” Mental Health is a Universal Human Rights”.

Mental health disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior, such as mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, eating disorders and addictive behaviors.

Prof Pate further stressed that physical diseases can contribute to mental health illnesses, or mental illnesses can contribute to physical diseases, “much of what we see are potential of the disease.

“Can be attributed to stress, anxiety, pressure and stress and directed me to the other issues, but we have chosen to focus mostly on the physical manifestation of disease or infectious diseases epidemic that is with us, yet we can see and I want to call on us as we celebrate this day to look beyond the veil and look closely at the young people around us and the little one at home and look at them with yourself in that position.

During questions and answers session on National Health Service (NHS) and financing Mental Health, the Coordinating Minister said mental health is a large part of the morbidity and mortality, the patients with the diseases suffer, also have the mental health dimensions, which are what we’re trying to solve.

Speaking on widespread awareness reaching the grassroots, Prof Pate said everyone should get involved, the government, community leaders including the media “we all need to pick an interest and have empathy. Imagine if it’s us or someone close to us, and let people be aware of mental health issues, it is a collective effort of the society to protect, not leave it to the government alone.”

Also, speaking on Bipolar and to address the illness, the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa said some of these mental illnesses are genetic and environmental.

“So drugs, substance abuse, which is attitudinal behavioral could present with bipolar and some baseline genetic disposition is to just expose the symptoms.

“So what can be done to reduce incidents of the burde, increased monitoring for each other, and the need to talk to the young people to avoid hard drugs.”

In early remarks, representing the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Chukwuma Anyaike, Director of public health, FMOH said this year’s theme of mental health makes it a human base issue, saying that no one should be left behind.

“That is a gentleman but mental health is basic human right for all people, and there is no health without mental health issues. And this runs in tandem with the definition of health according to WHO, globally there is continuous increase in department of Mental health, due to violence, conflicts, social economic factors, and imagined public health diseases.”

Further speaking, National Human Rights Commission, representative Mr. Iheme Richmond, deputy director, investigation and monitoring stressed that mental health bill was passed into law by the National Assembly in 2021 represents a commitment of the Government of Nigeria to progressively realize rights to health concerns to its obligations under international compact on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to act that reaffirmed mental health as a human rights.

Also, WHO representative, Alexander Chimbaru, Deputy WHO County Rep, emphasized that focusing on mental health as a human rights. “It call for public knowledge in raising awareness that the actions that promote and protect people’s mental health is a defense of human rights.

“Due to separate individual current major social, economic and demographic changes, the prevalence of mental health has been only increased worldwide with depression and anxiety.”