Sub-Saharan Africa’s first psychiatric hospital, built in 1827 in Sierra Leone, is to get a badly-needed makeover with a loan from the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank, Sierra Leone officials said on Thursday.
At a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, the west African state’s health minister, Agnes Taylor-Lewis, said the two million-dollar renovations would mark a ”great leap in helping to push the issue of good mental health forward”.
Years of conflict and poverty have taken their toll on the British-built hospital in Kissy just east of the capital Freetown, and have contributed to the decline in mental health care available to Sierra Leone’s 5,7-million people.
During the decade-long rebel war that raged in the impoverished state until 2001, the hospital was invaded repeatedly by rebels.
Psychiatric patients were murdered or marched into the jungle, and have not been heard from since.
More than 200 000 people were killed in the conflict notorious for a violent campaign of rape and dismemberment.
Health officials say the years of conflict and poverty are taking their toll on the civilian population, which has some of the world’s lowest indicators for good public health.
Sierra Leone is one of the world’s poorest countries, with a majority of its residents surviving on less than one dollar per day.
A Health Ministry survey undertaken in conjunction with the World Health Organisation in 2002 found that more than 100 000 people aged 12 and above suffered from severe depression requiring medical treatment.
Another 50 000 people were diagnosed as psychotic and some 200 000 were considered to have severe substance abuse prolems including alcoholism, according to the survey.
Sierra Leone’s lone psychiatrist Doctor Edward Nahim said on Thursday that the efforts to restore the hospital were a clear indicator that ”mental health was being considered a priority.” – Sapa-AFP