A CALL has gone to Federal government to integrate mental health services into Primary Health Care (PHC), even as the nation is being described as the country with the most retrogressive mental health law in the world.The call for integration was made as part of agitation for complete review of the nation's mental health programme towards improvement of health service to Nigerians.
Making the call in Lagos last week during a mental health stakeholders" meeting at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Prof. Oye Gureje of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, noted that there exists a major deficit between the need for mental health service and available resources to address the need. He opined that there may be no improved mental health services in Nigeria, until the National Mental Health Programme and Action Plan promulgated in 1991 is well implemented in addition to availability of essential drugs in primary care clinics and reduction of stigma.
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