User talk:FAAF MENTAL HEALTH GHANA

THE MENTAL HEALTH BILL Ghana has had legislation on mental health since 1888 when the Lunatic Asylum Ordinance, Cap 79, became law and custodial care for the mentally ill was originally provided for. The first asylum was built in 1906 to decongest the prision where arrested mentally ill was originally provided for.

The first asylum was built in 1906 to decongest the prison where arrested mentally ill people were kept.That ordinance had remained in force, with little modification, until the Mental Health Act 11972 was enacted.

The new Mental Health Bill became necessary because the 1972 legislation is out of date and does not accord with best practice standards for mental health legislation, which aims at protecting, promoting and improving the lives and well-being of people with mental disorder. The 1972 law was certainly a major improvement over its predecessor. It strongly emphasized institutional care to the detriment of providing mental health care in primary health care settings. This is contradictory to both national and international policy sufficiently protect people against unnecessary admission. However, the new Law promises to change the model of service provision to one which emphasizes care in the community.

The Mental Health Bill, seems to reflect international human rights and best practice standards, while at the same times takes into consideration local conditions and requirements. It contains specific clauses related to the rights of people with mental disorders. The law has provisions for the protection of vulnerable groups and provides for a visiting committee to monitor human rights conditions in mental health facilities as well as to set up a tribunal with the authority to investigate complaints and review involuntary admission and treatment in mental health facilities. One of WHO's goals is to promote appropriate mental health policies for maximum utilization of locally available resources at country level, including traditional healers' services. The truth is, Traditional healing existed in Africa long before the introduction of biomedicine. biomedical practice has not replaced traditional healing; instead, they exist side-by-side. This may be because traditional practice is deeply embedded in the wider belief and cultural systems and remains an integral part of the lives of most Ghanaians.

The Mental Health Bill takes into account the significant role of traditional healers in providing care for mental health facilities. There is no systematic documentation of either the prevalence of psychological distress among persons attending traditional healing practices or of the socio-economic characteristics of people with psychological distress who use these services in Ghana. This article, however calls for the registration of all traditional and faith-based healers to help codify and regulate their practices as inhuman and degrading treatment practices should now be a thing of the past. We are the keepers of our own legacy. Governments, non governmental organizations and the private sector all have a critical role in promoting mental health in the community. Government should be bold to use a variety of mechanisms to promote the employment of people with disabilities, including gquota schemes, which require businesses of a certain size to employ a specified proportion of people with a disability.Equity of nondiscrimination laws, which make it unlawful for people to discriminate on the basis of mental health problems and finally job retention laws, which require employers to retain people who become disabled while employed.