The Samoa Medical Association and the Samoa Association of General Practitioners held an important meeting last week at Moto’otua.
One of the issues on the agenda was mental health. It is the most neglected health issue worldwide, despite the high prevalence of mental health disorders in many countries.
Much stigma and discrimination still exists among health professionals, and is often what penalises patients suffering mental illness.
Misinformation and mythical ignorance encourage and promote stigma and discrimination, even among the highly educated.
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The Head of State. His Highness Tui Atua Tupua Tamasese Efi was the keynote speaker and official opening of the AGM.
“I was asked to talk today about the “cultural determinants of mental illnesses in Samoa,” about any “cultural solutions to their prevention and control” and about lessons we might learn from history that might help us better understand how to effectively help those Samoa who suffer from mental illness,” he said.
“It is not easy to feel compassion for someone who is hard to care about. The demanding task is to nurture the capacity to go on feeling compassionate, in order to go on caring.”
Dr. George Tuitama an MBBS, Psychiatry Registra, TTM Hospital spoke about the state of mental health in Samoa.
“Mental Health unit in Samoa has a total of about 286 patients who most are currently undergoing treatment and management,” he said. “These patients also include referrals from other wards and coral reef patients.
He also said, of these 286 patients majority of them are schizophrenic patients who makes up a total of 188, 29 suffer depressions, 9 are bipolar, 9 are ADHD, 8 epilepsy, 5 bipolar with schizoaffective disorder, 4 dementia, 3 PTSDD and the rest are phobias with other personality disorders.
Data collected from records department at the hospital for suicide attempts in Upolu show that there is a slight decrease from 2010.
“This data is yet to be confirmed when compared to the data from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Fa’ataua Le Ola (FLO) and Police department, he said.
Dr. Malama Tafuna’i also revealed that Mental Health is recognized as a major public health issue worldwide.
Not only that but mental health disorders make up 5 out of ten leading causes of disability with some 40per cent of all disability due to mental illness and rates of mental illness continuing to increase internationally.
Within the area of Primary Health Care (PHC), it is said that every consult you have, has an element of mental health.
“We just don’t know it, he said. For those of you that think otherwise, ask yourself, how many of your clients smoke?, take drugs, example alcohol, cigarettes, recreational drugs?, are depressed?, suffering from stress and or anxiety issues?, being faced with abuse either physical or mental?, are suicidal or entertaining suicidal thoughts?.
“That’s right, we don’t know, and often we don’t know because we don’t ask. As health care professionals, and especially if we are working in the PHC sector, we should all be confident to screen for Mental Health issue, and this should be a part of our daily consults.”
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