Policies, programmes and interventions that are data-driven are expected to help reshape public perception and behaviour towards people with mental health challenges. This move comes as part of a move by the Public Health Sector to combat the condition.
Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence.
In so doing the Ministry will be looking to vigorously screen and identify potential mental health and substance abuse patients.
Added to this Minister of Public Health, Ms. Volda Lawrence, said that efforts will be made to reorient employers to make them more responsive towards employees who suffer from mental ailment in the quest to eventually remove any form of stigma and discrimination that may exist in the workplace.
According to the Minister nine out of 10 persons with mental health illness have experienced some form of stigma and discrimination. This state of affairs has resulted in many patients opting to not seek medical attention until their condition becomes severe. “I understand your fear about this particular disease and the likely pain you might experience because of stigma and discrimination. I know the temptation many of us experience to hide our family members away from the glare of an unfriendly environment because of the stigma, we will have to endure if we take our family or friend for treatment at a mental health facility,” said Minister Lawrence.
The issue of stigma and discrimination, the Minister believes, is one that stems, not necessarily from malice or a desire to be unkind, but to communication barriers. As such she asserted that “this challenge must be eliminated especially if it exists among those in the public health sector.”
It is the belief of Minister Lawrence that “Guyanese must muster the courage to talk openly about this rather than whisper in secret about the challenges faced by our relatives and friends. Let me be candid with you: Mental illnesses are very common and mental illnesses can be treated.”