Kisumu governor Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o has called on Kenyans to speak openly about mental illness which he said is a silent killer in our society.
Prof. Nyong’o said that the well-being of our society is incomplete if we ignore the mind as it is an important component of the general well-being of individual beings and the entire society as a whole and added that a stable and healthy community is a progressive and development-forward-looking community.
“We must, as a society, break the deafening silence and stigma surrounding mental health. There is no health without mental health and its time that all of us embraced the dialogue on mental health,” the governor stated, adding that a healthy person can work, a healthy child can learn, and a healthy mind can innovate, therefore investment in our health system is a direct investment in our economic potential.
Nyong’o was speaking when he launched The Mental Health Dialogue and Launch of Kisumu Wellness Program at Ojolla Sub-County Hospital on Thursday.
He noted that early detection of all health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and various cancers saves lives, prevents suffering, and protects families from the catastrophic financial burdens once diseases reach advanced stages, including mental health.
“We have waited for sickness, then mobilized to fight it. The Wellness Screening Protocol we launch today is a bold shift in that paradigm. It represents our solemn commitment to preventive and promotive health. My vision is therefore to make wellness screening a standard, routine part of our health management system. It should be as normal as a child receiving a vaccine,” Nyong’o stated.
He explained that the protocol being launched provides a unified framework for the county health workers, thus ensuring that all health facilities in the county from Level One community units to Level 5 specialist hospital speak the same language of prevention.
“My administration’s role in this new chapter is clear: we are the primary facilitators of this process. This commitment fits squarely into my hands. Your work today is not just to talk; it is to build a foundation for action,” the governor said.
He affirmed that the development of Kisumu County cannot be accomplished by the county government alone and that is why the initiative of coming up with this wellness programme brought together the best minds, resources, and passion from both the public, private sectors and development partners.
Nyong’o pledged an all-encompassing vision of achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for every resident of Kisumu Count, adding that true UHC is not just about insuring people for when they get sick, it is also about investing in our Primary Healthcare (PHC) network to keep people healthy in the first place.
“My government is responsible for creating the policy, investing in the facilities and our human resources for health, and, most importantly, creating the enabling environment for the powerful partnerships in the sector health. This launch is a testament to that commitment and we are putting the tools, the training, and the political will behind this protocol to ensure its success,”
It’s worth noting that the number of employees in the Public Service suffering from mental illness continue to rise despite measures that have been put in place to contain mental illness in the workplace.
Data from the State Department of Public Service shows that the number of civil servants suffering from mental health issues has tripled to over 14,000 in 2023 down from 4,000 mental cases before 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic set in.
This has prompted the State Department of Public Service to set up counseling centres in every Huduma centre in the country to help those who need psychological help and revealed that those who need Tele-counselling can dial; 1919 and he or she will be connected to a counselor who will be waiting to help them.
According to the State Department of Public Service the country lost Sh62.2 billion from mental health conditions due to loss of productivity capacities, which is equivalent to 0.6 per cent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The World Health Organization (WHO) observes that here has been a 13 per cent rise in mental health conditions and substance use disorders in the last decade, with one in every eight people estimated to have been living with a mental health condition as of 2019.
WHO also further estimates that around 20 per cent of the world’s children and adolescents have a mental health condition, with suicide the second leading cause of death among 15 to 29-year-olds.
In the Kenyan context, the report of the Taskforce on Mental Health of 2020 pointed out that mental illness such as depression and suicide, substance use disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and other psychoses accounts for 13 per cent of the entire disease burden in Kenya.
The report further revealed that the investment required for selected clinical packages and population-based preventive interventions over a 10-year period is Sh81.7B or Sh1,712 per capita with return on investment (ROI) over the same period being Sh161.6B.
By Mabel Keya-Shikuku
