Over 3 million Ghanaians living with mental disorders

The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, has revealed that a total of 3.1 million Ghanaians representing 10% of the country’s population suffer from one form of mental disorder or another.

According to the minister, 41% of Ghanaians have psychological distress ranging from mild, moderate or severe. The development Kwaku Agyeman-Manu stated costs the nation about 7% of its GDP.

Responding to a question on the floor of Parliament in the name of MP for Sege, Christian Corletey Otuteye on plans by the Health Ministry to address the plight of persons with Mental Health problems, Mr Manu stated that the government has rolled out measures to improve mental health care in the country but the challenge has been funding.

“The WHO estimates that 10 per cent of the population of Ghana have one form of mental disorder of the other thus with an estimated 31 million population in Ghana we have an estimated 3.1 million with mental disorders.

“It is also clearly established that 41 per cent of Ghanaians have psychological distress, mild, moderate of severe and this costs the nation 7 per cent GDP loss.”

The Health Minister added that the Ministry of Health together with the Ghana Health Service is putting in place measures to ensure that mental health is treated nationwide and also make it accessible to all.