APN 38th Annual Scientific And General Meeting;Organization of Mental Health Services in Nigeria

The Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria(APN)held her 38th Annual Scientific And General Meeting recently at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital(LASUTH) with the above theme.The meeting was graced by seasoned Psychiatrists in Nigeria.It was another time more or less, to take stock of the state of affairs as it affects Psychiatric services and practice in Nigeria.

The Chief Medical Director of the host hospital, Dr Femi Olugbile delivered a paper with the theme as the topic i.e 'Organization of Mental Health Services in Nigeria.In his lecture,he commented on the need to boost the knowledge and skills of General practioners and family physicians as an important and first step towards bringing appropriate and effective treatment closer to Ngerian on Psychiatric problems.He further advocated the grouping of Mental illnesses as special category of sickness with a bid to facilitate the provision of free treatment for these category of patients.

Other very important highlights of his lecture include the fact that 1 in 5 roadside destitutes in Nigeria is due to psychosis or drug abuse.Furthermore,he shed light on the fact that the global burden of mental illnesses is such that it is near the top of list of global burden of diseases.Depression particularly causes more Disability Adjusted Life Years(DALYs) than most other illnesses known to man.He further declared that only 1 in 100 of Nigerians needing Psychiatric treatment seek for it in Nigeria.This is a feeler of the extent of awareness of mental illnesses and availability of Psychiatric services in Nigeria.Finally,it was pointed out that though psychotic cases tend to be very dramatic,the vaste majority of psychiatric cases tend to be subtle and invisible or unnoticeable.

It is hoped that the knowledge gained in this meeting is not going to be just for the sake of it,but is going to translate into the much needed education of the general populace about mental illnesses,as well as the organization of strong mental health advocacy groups.