World Mental Health Day: WOMEC Calls for Stronger Support for Mental Health Services
As Ghana joins the global community to mark World Mental Health Day, the Women, Media and Change (WOMEC) has called for urgent and transformative support to strengthen mental health services across the country.
In a statement signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Charity Binkah, WOMEC said access to quality mental health care remains a major challenge for many Ghanaians, particularly women and girls, who continue to face significant emotional and psychological stress with limited support.
This year’s celebration, themed “Access to Services – Mental Health in Catastrophes and Emergencies,” underscores the need for improved mental health systems, especially in times of crisis such as economic hardship, floods, road accidents, epidemics, conflicts, and gender-based violence — all of which heighten psychological distress.
Dr. Binkah noted that during emergencies, mental health needs increase but access to care becomes even more restricted. She emphasized that women, who often serve as caregivers, frontline workers, and emotional anchors in families and communities, are disproportionately affected.
“Women face enormous physical, economic, and psychological pressures without adequate support,” the statement said. “They are at a higher risk of anxiety, depression, and trauma, yet very few receive professional help due to stigma, discrimination, and the lack of community-based services, especially in rural areas.”
WOMEC stressed that mental health care, particularly for women and girls, must be recognized as a basic human right rather than a privilege.
The organization called on government and development partners to take actions: in strengthen CHPS compounds with integrated mental health services, especially for women and girls, provide free trauma and psychosocial counselling for survivors of gender-based violence.and as well incorporate mental health screening into antenatal and postnatal care.
The Organisation also called for expansion of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to fully cover mental health services and medications.
WOMEC in its statement further urged civil society, traditional and faith leaders, employers, and the media to play active roles in promoting mental wellness and combating stigma.
“No woman should have to suffer in silence. Mental wellness is not a privilege — it is a right,” the statement concluded. “When women are mentally strong, families are stable, children succeed, communities thrive, and Ghana develops. When women heal, nations recover. When women thrive, Ghana rises.”
Source: Felix Nyaaba/expressnewsghana.com
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