Mental health key in fighting HIV/Aids

31 Jan, 2016 - 00:01 0 Views

The Sunday News

MENTAL health is key to fighting HIV and Aids as mental disorders contribute substantially to the burden of disease amid indications that people with the condition are highly prone to HIV and Aids as they cannot negotiate for safe sex.

In an interview, MSF clinical psychologist Dr Emmerson Gono said the message on HIV and Aids should also address mental health.

“People with mental disorder are the most exposed and also affected group of the population. This group of people is very crucial and important in addressing HIV and Aids because they don’t have the capacity to decide what they want.

“They don’t have access to condoms and sometimes they will not even know or understand the importance of condoms. As a result, mentally challenged women tend to be raped because they can’t consent,” he said.

Dr Gono said mental health does not only look at people who are only mentally challenged. He said people who are HIV positive also experience mental health problems as they battle to accept their status and also contain the “burden” of taking their medication for the rest of their lives.

He added that people will suffer from organic psychosis secondary to HIV which is a severe mental illness caused by the brain damage, a condition people experience when HIV affects their brain.

“People who also have been tested positive go through psychological trauma as they try to accept their situation. Some people will not be brave enough to come open and declare their status to family members. Stress and depression are some of the challenges people mentally experience. People begin to see illusions and hear things which are non-existing,” said Dr Gono.

Ministry of Health and Child Care representative who has been working with MSF in their outreach programme on raising awareness on mental health, Mr Nelson Makore said mental health should be taken seriously as some people die because of trauma.

He said mentally challenged women were one of the most prone people as men mostly rape them.

“Mental health is very important because we have seen mentally challenged women on the streets with their children and in most cases those children would have been sired by men whom some could have been told that they should sleep with mentally challenged people to solve their problems.

“Men will be taking advantage of their mental situation hence it is important to talk about mental health,” he said.

MSF is an international medical humanitarian organisation that has been working in the country since 2000.

It runs projects in partnership with Ministry of Health and Child Care, people living with HIV, tuberculosis and mental disorders.

Through its outreach programmes, scores of people have been turning up for testing.

Mental disorders are highly prevalent as recent research showed that one in four people worldwide will develop one or more mental disorders in their lifetime. Nearly 30 percent of years lived with disability worldwide are attributable to mental health related conditions.

 

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