Implementing the Mental Health Act in Ghana: any challenges ahead?

Journal: Ghana medical journal

Volume: 46

Issue: 4

Year of Publication: 2014

Affiliated Institutions:  Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, SE AF, UK. victordoku@yahoo.co.uk

Abstract summary 

Ghana successfully passed a Mental Health Act law in March 2012. The passing of the Act was a culmination of a lot of work by various individuals and institutions spanning several decades. Finally there is a raised prospect of the delivery of a better quality mental healthcare and also the protection of human rights of people with mental disorders in Ghana. This paper identifies and describes clusters of related potential problems referred to as 'challenges' involving different aspects of service delivery, which are anticipated to be encountered during the implementation of the law. Finally, it cautions against the risk of allowing the new mental health law to add a new 'legal' burden to a list of perennial 'burdens' including underfunding, serious levels of understaffing and plummeting staff morale, which bisected earlier attempts at implementing a similar law that laid fallow for forty years.

Authors & Co-authors:  Doku V C K VC Wusu-Takyi A A Awakame J J

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  World Health Organization, author. Mental Health: A Call to Action by World Ministers. 2001.
Authors :  3
Identifiers
Doi : 
SSN : 2616-163X
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Delivery of Health Care
Other Terms
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Ghana
Publication Country
Ghana