SRHIN AFRICA Website
Mental Health Illness Among Internally Displaced Persons in Nigeria
The ability of humans to think, work, emote and interact with their environment, make a living and enjoy life is dependent on their mental health. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), mental health is more than just the absence of mental disorders or disabilities. It is an important and necessary component of Health which is defined as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being rather than the absence of disease or infirmity. As a result, every individual, community and society ought to be concerned with protecting, restoring and promoting mental health.
Over 3.9 million people have been displaced from their homes as a result of the Boko-Haram insurgency in Nigeria since 2012 with an estimated 2.1 million of this population internally displaced. According to a report by Statista in 2021, Nigeria has the third highest number of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. According to the UN, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are people who have been forced to flee their homes due to armed conflict, generalized violence, violations of human rights, or natural or human-made disasters, but who remain in their own country.
According to available community surveys, the burden of lifetime prevalence of mental health disorders in the Nigerian population ranges from 12% to 26%. This means that over 20 million Nigerians are at risk of developing a mental health disorder during their lifetime. Displacement can aggravate existing mental health conditions and contribute to the development of new ones such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to WHO, one in five displaced persons is affected by mental health disorders. It is an estimate that translates to over 400,000 Internally Displaced persons in Nigeria.
Furthermore, children and adolescents are always at risk of developing mental health problems especially vulnerable children who face poverty, discrimination and violence. Lack of access to basic social, health, and education services, combined with wide-ranging structural inequalities – these being the sad reality of children living in IDP camps, are all known to increase the risk of mental illness. In a recent study conducted by some members of Slum and Rural Health Initiative (SRHIN) NGO among young IDPs in Durumi and New Kuchingoro IDP camps in Northern Nigeria, it was discovered that young IDPs had negative experiences that led to symptoms of mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD among others with little or no access to quality mental health care.
SRHIN RESPONSE
The figures and examples given above illustrate a worrying trend. This brought about the Brave Heart Project. Brave Heart is an innovative community-led project aimed at promoting health information and services through mental health therapy, health advocacy programs and other interventions in selected refugee(IDP) camps.For more Information about the braveheart project, visit: Srhin.org/braveheart-project/