Africa-Press – Cape verde. João Vaz made these statements to the press, on the sidelines of the President of the Republic’s visit to HUAN, in the context of International Mental Health Day, celebrated on October 10th, under the motto “Mental health is a universal human right”.
“We understand that taking into account the very philosophy of hospitalizations in crisis, patients who are serving sentences, complying with security measures, must have another space. We must become intensely involved in this issue as people with mental disorders. And we, in the psychiatric service, must provide full support, or else create a ‘staff’ for this purpose”, he suggested.
João Vaz recalled that mental health is universal, a topic that requires reflection from everyone, emphasizing that one of the biggest challenges is to make people aware of the importance of taking care of mental health, a crucial element for human happiness, to maintain good social relationships and ensure productivity.
“We face many challenges, as Cape Verde is a poor country that still deals with problems of poverty, there is a certain liberality in relation to the consumption of alcoholic beverages and drugs, and we face many fundamental family problems, therefore, it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the State fulfill its function of ensuring this right”, he emphasized, reinforcing that the promotion of mental health begins with educational issues within the family.
For his part, the Assistant Secretary of State to the Minister of Health, Evandro Monteiro, in response to the suggestion from the director of the HUAN Psychiatric Service, said that the first measure to be taken is intersectoral and interministerial reinforcement.
“We have to strengthen ourselves to jointly respond and, above all, ensure the rights of these patients, which is the first thing we have to do. But, we are already working, for example, even in the central prison of Praia there are already treatment spaces, where, in fact, we are responding to the issue of on-site detoxification itself”, he said.
He recalled that the central chain already has doctors on a regular basis, and now work is being done to reinforce and have a greater presence of specialists within the structure with psychologists and psychiatrists.
Furthermore, Evandro Monteiro explained, in the prison service a specific wing is being created with beds for inmates or inmates of the aforementioned structure, with the aim of providing adequate treatment within the prison environment.
Regarding the percentage of mentally ill people in Cape Verde, the government official said he believes that there are thousands of Cape Verdeans with diagnosed mental illnesses.
However, due to the characteristics of the disease, there are still many people who do not access the services created by the State due to various factors, including stigma, highlighting that we must work to respond to each mentally ill person, ensuring their rights and promoting them. care for them.
“The new concept that has been introduced at the level of the national health system is very important not only the issue of detoxification, but, above all, social reintegration and from this reintegration enable and allow our mentally ill people to have some freedom, self-sufficiency economic, self-employment (…)”, he said.
Evandro Monteiro also announced that, next year, work on the Trindade psychiatric ward will be completed, provided that no difficulties arise during the process.
As he highlighted, the State Budget significantly increased the amount allocated to the Ministry of Health, and of this pie a significant part goes to investments.
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