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WORLD NEWS Monday 14 october 2019

Post-war Liberians are demanding better mental health care

By J. PAYE-LAYLEH are competing priorities.
Associated Press "When it comes to mental
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) health right now, it's col-
— More than a decade af- laborations with agencies
ter back-to-back civil wars such as the Carter Center
ravaged Liberia its people that is helping us to at least
still await justice for count- do the rudimentary things
less abuses, and many say in mental health," he said.
the lack of accountability is Dr. David Henderson, chair-
worsening a mental health man of the psychiatry de-
crisis. partment at Boston Univer-
The frustration soared when sity's medical school, said
President George Weah re- mental health could be
cently indicated there was tackled more rigorously in
no need for his government places like Liberia if global
to set up a war crimes court health funding paid more
in the West African nation attention to psychiatry. If
where the conflicts killed those resources were pro-
a quarter-million people. vided, "we can really build
"Why now?" he repeated In this Oct. 9, 2019, photo, a mentally ill woman sits on the streets in Monrovia, Liberia. capacity very quickly."
in an address to the United Associated Press He cited the success story
Nations annual gathering some elements who com- tortured. About 60% said Government authori- of Ethiopia, which went
of world leaders last month. mitted atrocities. Weah has they had lost confidence in ties acknowledge the from just three psychiatrists
The impatience with that rejected that accusation human beings and society. mental health problem is to about 100 over 15 years.
attitude boiled over last and his supporters dismiss "This can have a severe enormous but blame the For now Liberia has just
month when hundreds of it as untrue. In addition to consequence on one's country's inability to raise one overcrowded and un-
people stormed Liberia's those suffering from trauma mental function," he told enough revenue to ad- derfunded mental health
legislature with a petition caused by the civil wars The Associated Press. dress such issues. The chair- hospital, an annex of the
asking the government for from 1989 to 2003, thou- The need for mental health man of the senate commit- John F. Kennedy Memorial
more mental health sup- sands of Liberians are trying care in Liberia is so great tee on health and a former Medical Center in the cap-
port. They said they repre- to recover from the world's and complicated that no health minister, Dr. Peter ital, Monrovia. Patients are
sented some half-million deadliest Ebola outbreak government has been able Coleman, said the funding charged the equivalent
people who have received that killed more than 4,000 to tackle the issue, and allotted to the health sec- of $10 for 21 days of treat-
mental health services over people in the country from none has taken the initia- tor in the annual budget is ment, a cost many cannot
the years via a charity, the 2014-2016. tive, Harris said. negligible because there afford.q
U.S.-based Carter Center. More than 20% of Liberia's
Such private aid is not post-war population has
enough to assure that ev- mental health issues includ-
ery Liberian receives assis- ing post-traumatic stress
tance, they said. disorder, the World Health
"Mental health care con- Organization said in 2016.
tinues to be seriously side- But the country has just a
lined," said Bill Ballah, a couple of psychiatrists for a
spokesman for the group. population of nearly 5 mil-
"Each of us needs good lion.
mental health to ... pursue Until the arrival of a Nige-
our life goals and meet our rian psychiatrist three years
responsibilities as respon- ago, Dr. Benjamin Harris
sible citizens." had been the only psychia-
Critics say Liberia's presi- trist in Liberia for decades.
dent is not interested in About 70% of students Har-
creating a war crimes ris interviewed near the end
court because his politi- of the civil wars said they
cal support base includes had seen people killed or