Liberia, West Africa

Apart from personal experiences and feedback from family and friends, the screenshots below extracted from a report by the World Health Organisation show the state of the mental health sector in Liberia, West Africa, in 2020. Three years on, I believe there has not been any significant improvement. The stats below are very disheartening. In a country of over 5 million population with no suicidal prevention program, no child psychiatrist, no community-based mental health facilities and no outpatient mental health clinic attached to hospitals is frightening.

Additionally, only four psychiatrists and two psychologists per 100,000 population are reported to be in the entire country with no government funding for mental health, meaning individuals have to pay for their treatment if there are any. Imagine for a second as you read through the screenshots below if this was somewhere you would want to live where you had no access to any mental health service. Imagine experiencing suicidal ideation, panic attacks, depression, anxiety or everyday stresses, and there was no help or one to talk to. I most definitely do not want to live in that world.

The aim and purpose of this blog and my desire to set up a voluntary counselling practice virtually with six monthly face-to-face consultations once qualified is to help create a safe place where people can get help with mental health issues. In the next six months, I hope to start circulating this blog in Liberia with regular adequate mental health information and updates. I also hope to distribute leaflets and flyers giving practical information on mental health issues.

Mental health care is a fundamental human right.

I could have written out the information from the report, but I needed you to see the numbers as they are for yourself.

https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/mental-health/mental-health-atlas-2020-country-profiles/lbr.pdf?sfvrsn=2c69be10_6&download=true