Zimbabwe is doing well compared to other countries by having a Mental Health Act which however dates back as far as 1996.
By Kudakwashe Pembere
Despite having legal guidelines to mental health issues, the country has had mental health strategies which seek to decentralise while augmenting to the existing mental health structures and this qualified Zimbabwe to be part of the 12 countries to work on a Special Initiative for Mental Health in the world.
This was said by World Health Organisation Mental Health Technical Officer Dr Debra Machando on Friday while speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Quality Rights e-training workshop held in Harare.
Zimbabwe is actually in a good position in that we have legislation and policies. And we have even strategic frameworks that are there to address mental health issues. So it is a huge plus for Zimbabwe,” she said.
Dr Machando added that the setting up of an inter-ministerial taskforce for drug and substance abuse demonstrated political will by the highest office of the land.
“There is very strong political will in Zimbabwe. If you noticed, the President launched the inter-ministerial taskforce to try and address drugs which are closely related to mental health issues,” she said.
“The persons who are using drugs usually have mental health issues. Maybe they are distressed, maybe they are depressed. They are using drugs to self-medicate to try to resolve issues while it is of course not helpful. But it is a problem. Mental health problems can cause a person to abuse drugs and we also know that drugs result in a person having mental health conditions. So that support at high-level has will to tackle these problems.”
She added that despite the country having a law to deal with mental health issues enacted in 1996, this alone made Zimbabwe qualify to be part of the Special Initiative for Mental Health.
“So it happened that Zimbabwe is very fortunate to be among the 12 priority countries selected to be part of a program. Actually we are the first to be in this program named Special Initiative for Mental Health. So you will see how we are partnering with National Association for People with Psychosocial Disabilities (NAPPD), CBM, Pamumvuri, Zimnahm and academic institutions.
“The vision is that all people should achieve the highest standard of mental health and wellbeing. Under this programme, in the 12 priority countries, we would like to increase access so that people can get mental health services which are accessible. So we are aiming for at least 100 million and more people from the 12 countries,” Dr Machando said.
She said they engaged several stakeholders to come up with a document seeking to address key issues bedevelling the mental health sector such as improving access for all.
“So on the five year plan to transform mental health services in Zimbabwe, we wanted to figure out what needed to be done. We did a consultative process from 2019 to 2020, we engaged key stakeholders including people with lived experiences of mental health like NAPPD, CBM, Ministry of health, professional councils, and so forth.
“So we came up with a document which is a five year plan, 2019 to 2023. This was before the COVID-19 pandemic. So due to COVID-19, the program is to be extended to 2025,” Dr Machando said.
Dr Machando also said they have started rolling out the MHGAP initiative in Zimbabwe which seeks to improve access to mental health services.
“We have started rolling out what we call MHGAP plus problem solving initiative from Friendship Bench. You heard there is a clinical psychologist, there is a psychiatrist, and their charges are expensive.
So what do we need to do given they are few? Let’s build capacity of people who can actually offer services. We are aiming to see people getting attended to before the condition worsens. We have mental health nurses in facilities but there are few.
