'Protect citizens against mental health issues' - Dr. Cummings urges

‘Protect citizens against mental health issues’ – Dr. Cummings urges

Oct 10, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – Shadow Health Minister and Opposition, Member of Parliament, Dr Karen Cummings has called on the Government to help protect citizens against health health issues.

He message coincides with the observance of World Mental Health Day.

Below is the full text of the message

Today, October 10, 2022, marks International Mental Health Day. It is a time for Governments, Communities, Families, and Individuals to focus on mental health as an urgent health concern and support efforts to make it a global priority. Valiant efforts are made to promote awareness and there is robust advocacy against the social stigma and discrimination associated with mental disorders.

MP, Dr. Karen Cummings

According to THE World Health Organization [WHO], 12 billion workdays are lost annually due to depression and anxiety costing some US$ 1 trillion. Before the Covid-19 epidemic, there were 1 billion persons living with mental health disorders with working age adults accounting for 15 percent. However, anxiety and depression were responsible for a 25 percent increase in prevalence globally during the COVID-19 PANDEMIC. The global burden of disease study has indicated that women and young people ages 20-24 were severely impacted than men in terms of their mental health status. In addition, persons with comorbidities were more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders.

It is well known that most workers spend eight to twelve hours of their time at the workplace, and a large portion of their lives at work. Work should be a blessing but an individual with poor mental health will not be able to perform effectively and produce maximally at work if adequate support is not available or the stressors are not removed from the environment thus enabling the situation to be a positive one.

Today, on this ‘World Mental Health Day’, the call goes out to Policy Makers, Managers, Civil Society, and Community Leaders to ensure that there is a positive and conducive environment at work – free of social exclusion, stigma and discrimination. As a golden oil-rich country, Guyana must capitalize on the opportunity to narrow the gap of economic inequalities and inequities in health and to look at innovative solutions to tackle mental health. It is the responsibility of Government to enact policies and for all of us to ensure that racism or blatant ethnic inequalities at the inter-personal or structural levels are not allowed to take root and fester as they negatively affect the mental and physical health of all citizens.

Task shifting, Telemedicine, and the promotion of Self-Care will be certainly a start towards the implementation of mental health improvements and in striving to meet the SDG3 by 2030. Mental Health should be a strategic component for investment in health. The time to act is now!

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