"I am Abdalla Omar Hassan, I work with HIPZ here in Pemba as a Mental Health Officer. Here in Zanzibar, mental health is neglected so we need to start making it a priority. 

‍

Most of the people we speak to, find they are mentally sick, but they just don’t know it. Mental health issues such as stress and depression are very common. We hear on the radio and in the media that people are suffering from mental illness. Some of them have attempted to commit suicide. There are a lot of people with depression, anxiety and neurosis, and there are people suffering from psychosis. We need to help manage the stigma with these people. This creates a certain form of discrimination in society. Most of them are not getting care, they are not getting help, they are neglected, and they are not seen as human beings. This makes their mental health illnesses become worse. That is why we started mental health services in Pemba. We have found that there has been an increase in enrolment for care.  

We have ten trained doctors and nurses, and they get referred mental health patients at that hospital, but you find that the drugs they need to treat them are very limited, there are very few. For example, Chlorpromazine is not available which is a common treatment. Alloteridle, Phenobarbital and other psychotic drugs, too.  

‍

The patients sometimes get access to these drugs once, then fail to get them another time, which becomes a problem. When they come to the clinic, and they can’t get the drugs, they go back home with nothing. They may use treatments that are not acceptable instead, and it creates more of a challenge for them. If we can get the mental health medication, that will improve our community.

‍

Mental health should be a priority and receiving donated medicines will help overcome the problems. When you talk about overcoming mental health issues, that doesn’t mean just the use of drugs, but counselling and social work. Talking is a treatment, and that is how we can treat mental illness. We don’t just use tablets or injections. Talking is the treatment.  

We expect to have a bright future. We hope it will be a success. The more we bring awareness, the more we improve and reach out to more and more people. This can be achieved if we devote our time to it. People are saying they understand mental health better; this is a big achievement in Pemba."

‍