Topic: Expanding Mental Health Resources
Country: Nigeria
Delegate Name: Connor Baney
School: Mattawan High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Nigeria position papers GLIMUN 2018 committees
Mental health has been a topic that’s been difficult to address historically. Before the Post Industrial era, mental health issues were approached with a harsh attitude. Research on these topics were seldomly researched in depth, and were often dealt with in an incorrect manner. In the present day, resources have become more available in regards to mental health. However, in countries deemed to be “3rd World” have limited mental health resources. World wide, mental health has been a prevailing problem, researches project that by 2020, mental health issues will affect up to 15% of the world population. In Nigeria, mental health issues affect between 20-30% of the population, much higher than the global average. According to mental health report conducted by the World Health Organization “Countries such as South Africa, Egypt, and Kenya have more psychiatrists per 100,000 persons and also have higher proportions of psychiatric beds. Also, many countries in Africa also give better official attention to mental health issues.” Nigeria has the highest population of any African nations at 190,632,261 which can be a cause of concern considering that it is difficult to address such a large population when the rate of physicians per 1000 is 0.38. Another issue that Nigeria needs to address is its lack of doctors known as the “Brain Drain” as many talented health officials leave the country in pursuit of greater economic opportunity. Considering that mental health is one of the more prevalent issues to address in Nigeria among others, solutions are desperately needed. One possible solution is to adopt more westernized solutions in regards to mental health. European countries such as Switzerland have been instrumental in setting precedent for healthcare for the mentally ill. Another solution is to offer greater incentive for promising doctors and other health officials to stay in Nigeria to provide greater mental healthcare and healthcare in general for its constituents.
Works cited: “Nigeria.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 9 Nov. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigeria. “The World Factbook: NIGERIA.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 2 Nov. 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/ni.html. Okpalauwaekwe, Udoka, et al. “Knowledge of and Attitude to Mental Illnesses in Nigeria: A Scoping Review.” Diet Therapy | List of High Impact Articles | PPts | Journals | Videos, IMedPub, 6 Mar. 2017, www.imedpub.com/articles/knowledge-of-and-attitude-to-mental-illnesses-in-nigeria-a-scoping-review.php?aid=18642.
