Mental health care for 5,000+ patients in Kenya

In September Kamili has been honoured to receive the 2021 UN Interagency Task Force on NCDs (UNIATF) Award, for their exceptional work in providing community mental health services and for their commitment to battling the stigma surrounding mental health.

About the UNIATF Task Force

The impact that non-communicable diseases (NCD's) and mental health issues impose on all countries in the world are still on the rise and currently, about 70% of all deaths around the world are related to NCD's. Considering that most NCD's or at least their outcome could be prevented through access to proper healthcare, this is an incredibly high percentage. They not only have severe impacts on an individuals life but also on countries as a whole, due to the high burden of social and economical losses. 

Addressing and reducing the impact of NCD's has therefore been included in the agenda of the 'Sustainable Development Goals', with the target to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by one-third through prevention and treatment, and promoting mental health and wellbeing by 2030. To promote and achieve these goals the task force is therefore joining together over 40 UN agencies, supporting governments in addressing NCDs and establishing a platform for cooperation of governments and non-governmental actors. The strategy is based on 4 pillars: Supporting governments to increase their capacity of action, mobilizing resources, promoting partnerships and acting as an example for reform.

Hope for the future

Receiving the award is therefore not only an honour for Kamili and their hard work, moreover, it is another step towards fighting the stigma surrounding mental health in Kenya. Despite their efforts, mental health services in Kenya remain poor and only 0.1% of the governments budget is dedicated to improving the access to mental health facilities. Kamili has big goals and wants to increase its outreach, by having trained mental health nurses in all 47 counties by 2023. This award hopefully increases the government's recognition of mental health as a public health issue and the urgency for action.

In general, the future is looking bright for mental health in Kenya, as despite the pandemic all three Kamili clinics in Kangemi, Gachie and Lower Kabete have run throughout the year.  This was coupled to our moving into the new clinic, which will provide the privacy its patients deserve and an excellent working environment for the staff.

Consultations

There has been a constant supply of medicine despite the rising number of patients, and we were able to offer consultation services were offered all year. As we reported in the last update, this meant we held a total of 1,785 psychological consultations: One of our consulting doctors: Dr. Hinga, even provided food (unga, beans and rice) to patients during every visit.

Savings and loan scheme to help patients rebuild their lives

Twenty-five patients and carers benefited from the loan scheme, borrowing a total of KES 1,667,745. (£11,207.09). This was used to set up income-generating activities in order to improve their livelihood. These range from establishing sewing, fast food and bead ornament outlets to building houses to rent out. At the close of the year, patients had accumulated a total of KES 2,250,110 (£15,120.53) in savings. 

Mental Health: Nurses’ training scheme

This year our nurse scholarship flier was sent out in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the National Nurses Association of Kenya (NNAK), so we received a record number of applications, including some from the prison service. Out of 136 applicants, were able to offer places to 41 nurses on the Kamili Scholarship, and a total of 32 sponsored scholars finally joined the training scheme, as nine deferred to this year. Classes started virtually in September 2020. 

Given the shortfall in applicants we will need to train Community Health Volunteers to bridge the gap, who will assist in early detection of mental health issues and do appropriate referrals. 

A government-recognised community mental health curriculum

We have been in discussion with the University of Nairobi and Kenya Medical Training College to submit proposals of how we can develop a Community Mental Health curriculum for Community Health Workers, and expect to have the first CHWs in training by September 2021.

So all in all, we are moving forward in treating mentally-ill patients in Kenya