Mental health crisis: Fewer than 300 psychiatrists serve over 200m Nigerians — Sheikh

… Demands urgent implementation of Mental Health Act, stronger funding
By Chioma Obinna
A Professor of Psychiatry at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Prof. Taiwo Lateef Sheikh, has said that Nigeria is facing a deepening mental health crisis, with fewer than 300 psychiatrists available to serve a population of over 200 million people.
Sheikh, a member of the Advisory Committee to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, said the severe shortage of mental health professionals, inadequate funding and poor access to community-based services were widening the gap between Nigerians who need mental healthcare and those who receive it.
He spoke at the Mental Health L...