I’ve been asking myself a lot of questions lately regarding illnesses that do not kill but affect one’s personality’. Do we African’s really know how to detect these diseases early enough? Do all of us know them in the first place? Are the systems to handle them put in place in all our countries? Do we know how to detect, treat, live with or help those affected? I am asking this because the number of mentally ill people roaming the cities without care in Africa is disturbing..

For example, do parents and teachers have the ability to recognize a child with ‘attention disorder’ or who is ‘hyperactive’? ‘Or perhaps such a child ends up being rebuked, mistreated or even get punished everyday? Where is this education available in our countries? Is it in our school curriculum? or in the mainstream media? Where is it provided? Or must each one of us have a teacher-friend, a brother or a relative who knows the condition before we are able to act?

What about ‘Schizophrenia’ where the victim sees and believes in imaginary things (illusions) or hear voices in the head etc., or possibly show multiple personalities? What do we do when we see our loved one looking confused, aloof, uninvolved, austere, abstemious, unfriendly, diminished, dull, too chatty or even suicidal? What comes to our minds when we see such behaviors? Are diseases like ‘grandiose’ known to us? Where a person is immersed in the world of illusions and even seem crazy with big plans and disproportional ambitions? – Or do we just despise and ignore them as being ‘MAD’ ‘CRAZY’, ‘PSYCHOPATH’ or DRUG ADDICTS?’

And what about illnesses that slowly make someone lose memory and ability to think like ‘Dementia’ and ‘Alzheimer’? Do we as a community know the symptoms? Do we know what to do?  Or do we just say ‘I’ have (or s/he has) become so forgetful nowadays.. and then end it there? Do we know how to reduce the effects of these diseases? Or do we expect everyone to pursue this knowledge at own time?

These are just a few examples. But the problem I’m talking about here is the tendency to ignore some diseases and deal only with the  so-called ‘important diseases’ or the ‘NUMBER ONE KILLER DISEASES’  such as Malaria, HIV/AIDS, Cholera, TB, cancer, Diabetes, etc. This tendency has gotten to the point where if it cannot be proven statistically that a particular disease causes a significant number of deaths, or has negative economic effects, then little or no funds are allocated to address it. This is wrong.

I therefore plead to our nations to invest in educating our communities on symptoms, treatment and care of victims of  diseases that affect how we live (i.e our personality) with the same emphasis they assign to other diseases. We also need to promote investment in skills and facilities needed to treat and manage victims. Certainly without a healthy community, there is no development. Especially mental health!