Raising mental health awareness in Malawi will be a long difficult journey

Last week I blogged about my recent experience of visiting Malawi to deliver capacity building training with disabled people’s organizations to increase their collective advocacy and participation skills. But why do work in countries like Malawi in the first place?

It is true that most of the Foundations work is here in the UK, but occasionally opportunities come along to visit or work in other countries. Working internationally gives us the opportunity to reach out and support other people; to raise awareness of mental health issues; to challenge stigma and discrimination; and to learn and develop our own understanding and skills.

Core to the work of the Foundation is raising awareness and promoting better mental health for all – whatever their condition or circumstance; campaigning to reduce stigma and discrimination; and developing practical solutions to meet peoples situation and needs.

Awareness and understanding about mental health in Malawi is very low, and access to mental health services is very limited. In a country of over 13 million people there are only two psychiatrists and two psychologists registered with the Medical Council of Malawi. With only one specific psychiatric hospital many areas of the country have no access to mental health care and treatment.

When people talk about mental health in Malawi, they usually refer to people with severe mental illness and this can often mean that people can find themselves totally ostracized from society. Our current project in Malawi does not address these specific issues, however working with people with disabilities we are hopefully able to influence how they view both in terms of mental illness and in terms of their own well-being.

Throughout the training sessions I delivered in Malawi people first and foremost saw me as a trainer and I delivered sessions on human rights, legislation and collective advocacy. However, there were opportunities to talk with people about my previous experiences of mental illness and my history of hospital admissions.

It is difficult to explain the impact that can have on people. Most people living with a disability in Malawi experience some form of stigma and disadvantage without further compounding that by talking about their mental health. Yet here was a trainer disclosing that he had formerly spent time in a psychiatric hospital to people in a country where such experiences are likely to lead to people being cut off and ostracized from their families and community.

Through this project there will be increased capacity for collective advocacy and participation in civic life for persons with disability in Malawi, but without the involvement of the Foundation there is a danger that there will be no significant change in the perceptions surrounding mental health in the country which is a serious social justice issue.

Raising mental health awareness in Malawi will be a long difficult journey, but, throughout the 60 year history of the Foundation we have used our knowledge and experience to pioneer change and tackle often difficult issues to help empower people and make real changes to their lives.

 

Recent blogs by Chris White

• Living with stigma in Malawi - 11 December 2013