On the World Mental Health Day held on October 10, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) have reaffirmed their commitment to support member-states and partners across the region to ensure that “Mental Health is a Universal Human Right,” the theme for this year’s commemoration.
   
Mental health – though often neglected – is an intrinsic component of wellbeing. It is a key requisite for the healthy and holistic development of children, for their present wellness, and for helping them to become capable and functioning adults.   
  
Human resources for child and adolescent mental health services are dire in many parts of the world, with an average of 0.3 psychiatrists per 100,000 population at the global level, and 0.1 per 100,000 for the 47 countries across WHO African Region. 
 
UNICEF Regional Director in West and Central Africa, Felicité Tchibindat, said: “The right to mental health is a necessity, not a luxury in Africa.
 
“The only way we can enable the greater realisation of this right is through more significant investment in mental health and psychosocial support. This includes better policies and systems, integration of mental health services into education, protection and health interventions.”
 
The 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by 189 countries, outlines children’s rights as including the right to life, health, clean drinking water, survival and development. 
  
Despite this, a recent UNICEF report, ‘Centring Child Rights in the 2023 Agenda’ released on September 18, 2023, reviewed progress made on realising children rights. Two-thirds of child-related Sustainable Development Goals indicators were off-pace. Progress is slowest for low-income nations, with countries in the African Region being the most affected. 
   
A key part of the right to mental health is access to quality mental health services.
   
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, noted: “The severe shortage of professionals is among the major barriers to adequate mental health services in our region. To address this challenge, we are supporting countries to enhance mental health worker training, including at the lowest level of care. We are also supporting the efforts to improve availability of essential psychotropic medicines, as well as promote and protect the rights of people with mental health conditions.”
  
According to the WHO Mental Health ATLAS 2020 report, only 11 out of the 47 countries in the zone provided information on child and adolescent mental health policies, and only three of them reported having such policies. Less than 50 per cent of the mental health policies and plans in the region complied with human rights standards.