A mental health capacity-building training session has been organized by the Lagos State Ministry of Health for no less than 314 primary healthcare professionals, including doctors, nurses, community health officers, community health extension workers, and social workers who are drawn from Primary Health Centres throughout the state.
The participants were taught how to identify and treat common mental illnesses like depression, anxiety, drug misuse, psychosis, and stress as well as how to handle psychiatric emergencies like attempted self-harm and other serious mental discomfort, according to a statement released on Monday.
The training that was provided as part of the Lagos State Government’s Mental Health in Primary Care programme was designed to help the state’s primary healthcare system incorporate mental health services as a transformative strategy for addressing the overall wellbeing of its residents.
Speaking at the recent five-day batched training exercise’s closing ceremony, Dr. Olusegun Ogboye, the permanent secretary of the Lagos State Ministry of Health, explained that integrating mental health services into primary healthcare facilities is a crucial step toward meeting people’s overall healthcare needs.
The approach, he continued, recognises the connection between physical and mental health, emphasizing that in order to provide holistic health care, it is necessary to identify and manage mental health issues in the context of the community.
According to Ogboye, the advantages of the MeHPriC study include early detection of mental health challenges, prompt management, better patient outcomes, and decreased stigma associated with mental health disorders.
By providing all people with accessible, efficient, and compassionate treatment, he said, the sustainability and growth of integrated health services at the primary care level has the potential to have a significant impact on communities.
In a similar vein, Dr. Tolu Ajomale, Coordinator, Special Project, and Lagos State Ministry of Health Desk Officer, described how the World Health Organization’s Mental Health Gap Action Programme Intervention Guide was used to design the mental health training for health workers at the primary health care level, with a focus on the identification and management of depression, anxiety, epilepsy, and substance abuse.
