BUSIA, Kenya – Busia is one of four counties in Western Kenya and Nyanza that have benefited from a mental health awareness project that aims to combat mental health disorders by focusing on teachers and secondary school students in these regions.
Speaking early this week to stakeholders at the opening of the mental health workshop at a Busia hotel, Prof. Isaac Ipara Odeo, vice chancellor of Kibabii University, stated that the pilot survey is being carried out in four counties: Kisumu, Kakamega, Bungoma, and Busia.
According to Prof. Odeo, participants are selected from four schools in those counties: St. Stephen’s Keng’atunyi (Busia), St. Philips Ebwaliro (Kakamega), St. Teresa Sio (Bungoma), and St. Ignatius Loyola Secondary School, Magadi (Kisumu County).
“This is a research project that is led by a team of researchers from Kibabii University in collaboration with the National University of Lesotho, which had a representative, Makhetho Leseto, in the three-day workshop,” said the prof.
Africa-UniNet, an Austrian-African research network, is providing funding for the initiative.
Why the mental health project is being implemented
According to Prof. Odeo, the project also includes the Medical University of Graz in Austria, increasing the total number of institutions involved to three.
It is now well acknowledged that mental health is the main issue, especially in Kenya. Once disregarded, these symptoms are now showing up in really harmful ways, and some of the easy causes include stress, work-related stress, mood problems, and alcohol and drug abuse.
“But we understand that the impact is so great, particularly about medical services, which are already precarious in terms of workplace productivity, and what goes down as a result of these,” Prof. Odeo continued.
He stated that currently, mental health issues are showing up in extremely risky ways.
“In addition to discussing gender-based violence (GBV), we are also addressing communities and offering additional interventions to help the government tackle this threat,” Odeo stated.
Why is the government concerned about mental health
According to the vice chancellor, they are pleased that the students will be able to put what they have learnt here into practice following the course, with some pretty drastic outcomes.
Prof. Odeo pointed out that to lessen this issue, the Head of Public Service, Felix Koskei, recently published a circular directing institutions to include money in their budgets for staff mental health and well-being at work. The circular also outlined the work plans and actions that will be carried out to achieve this goal.
Since teachers work with young people, Prof. Odeo indicated that Kibabii University found it wise to target them.
He added that they are working on budget plans to expand to other counties in the nation, particularly in urban areas and cities like Nairobi and Mombasa, where socioeconomic challenges cause many mental health issues for those living there.
Everyone is at risk for mental health issues, according to Odeo. The degree is all that matters, he added, noting that anxiety accounts for 6% of mental health cases and depression for 4.8%.
According to him, social contact, fatigue, work stress, socioeconomic conditions, and stressful activities are the true sources of mental health issues.
How long has the mental health program been running
According to Makhetho, Lesotho is a partner nation in the project on mental health awareness in Kenya that focuses on secondary schools. He also mentioned that the research has been on since last year, when his colleague travelled to Kenya to conduct the baseline survey.
The results of the current mental health survey, which was conducted among teachers and students in Kenya last year, have been presented to schools so they can address such issues.
“We have also discussed how to create a supportive environment for mental health in Kenya and what we have done thus far with the pilot research. We plan to grow to include the remaining counties and the entire nation. This is what we have accomplished thus far, but that will also be taken into account in our budget,” he stated.
Dr. Manasi Echaune, Dr. Lucy Namusonge, Dr. Martha Konje, Prof. Ernest Mugochi, Dr. Patrick Owoche, Dr. Rose Mutende, Dr. Leunita Makila, Dr. Paul Obino, and Prof. Julius Maiyo, the project principal investigator, were among the Kibabii team members in attendance.
Mohammed Osman, the project’s focal point and deputy director of education, represented the Ministry of Education’s State Department of Basic Education.
