Contributing to debate on mental health facilitated by the Humanitarian Information Facility Centre in Harare last week, the stakeholders said the lack of commitment had also hampered the country’s capacity to deal with mental health issues.
“A lot of people think of a person walking the streets naked or talking to themselves or just behaving abnormally when talking about mental health,” Nemache Mawere, a doctor at the Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals said.
“Yet in life, everybody goes through some mental problems including stress, depression, anxiety, phobias, epilepsy, mental retardation and developmental disorders of children.
“People tend to focus on schizophrenia which accounts for only 1% of mental cases in any community all over the world. We are not doing enough to address the bigger problem.”
Mawere said other mental health conditions included alcohol, drugs and other substance use disorders.
Other participants at the forum said donors were prioritising diseases such as Aids, tuberculosis and malaria, which they believed were the main killers yet mental illness exposed people to many risks.
They said the risks included suicide and accidents caused by people who would have lost their minds.
“Lack of funds is negatively affecting procurement of medication and admissions for psycho-social services,” said Mercy Kamuzunguze of Healthwatch Welfare Organisation Trust.
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“Sometimes patients run out of medication and that negatively affects the progress made in rehabilitating them.”
Lovemore Pasina of Tariro Halfway Homes said organisations lacked money for community educational programmes and refresher courses for staff among others.
He said Zimbabwe only had 10 psychiatrists, which made it difficult to properly care for patients.
