Postpartum Depression: NGO wants FG to employ psychologists in public hospitals
NAN-H-59
Depression
By Yashim Katurak
Abuja, Feb. 2, 2018 (NAN) Dr Onyedikachi Ekwerike, President, Postpartum Support Network (PSN) Africa, has called on the Federal Government to employ psychologists in public hospitals to provide medical assistance to pregnant women and nursing mothers.
Ekwerike, who is also a Clinical Psychologist, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Friday.
He said that the absence of psychologists in government owned hospitals in the country was greatly affecting the level of awareness and care given to women with postpartum depression.
He said that this has caused a continuous increase in the number of women living with the condition and the number of untreated cases thereby putting mother and child at constant risk of death by suicide.
Ekwerike said that postpartum depression was currently the leading cause of suicide among mothers, adding that the country is losing women mostly to this condition with little or no effort being done to stop the trend.
“What the federal government under the Ministry of Health should be doing to address postpartum depression is to provide psychologist in government hospitals.
“That is the gap we have; we do not have psychologists in our public hospitals even those available in psychiatric hospitals are just a handful.
“To provide the needed support and training for pregnant women and nursing mothers in this area, it is imperative that the government gets more hands on deck and that is the employment of psychologists.
“It is sad to note that currently, there is no position for a psychologist in the civil service cadre.
“This means there are no psychologists employed by the federal government; today many of them work under psychiatrists as assistants,” Ekwerike said.
He described postpartum depression as a mental illness mainly affecting nursing mothers, stating that the condition is grossly misunderstood by many health workers and the public.
According to him, postpartum depression is a treatable medical condition affecting one in seven women.
It is imperative that awareness about the condition be more widespread across Africa considering the rising number of the victims.
The expert said that women who had the condition experienced one or more of the following signs and symptoms: mood swings, anxiety, sadness, irritability and feeling overwhelmed.
Others include crying and reduced concentration, appetite problems, insomnia and difficulty bonding with the newly born baby.
He explained that women with this condition who did not receive treatment were most likely to develop postpartum psychosis putting her at risk to herself and her child.
He said that a woman with postpartum psychosis was at risk of committing suicide, adding that she can also commit ‘infanticide’ (killing of her child).
PSN was founded in 2015 with the sole commitment to raise awareness about postpartum depression in Nigeria in particular and Africa at large. (NAN)
KRY/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola