WHO+-+KENYA

Name: Justin Hachey Country: Kenya Committee: World Health Organization High School: Arundel High School Date: 1/30/13

__ Addressing Mental Health Issues __

The world as a whole must switch their views from the thought that a mental illness means you’re “crazy” or a psychopath, to the view that a mental illness is a decapitating illness that requires attention by trained professionals. Many countries, especially developing countries, stricken with poverty, cannot provide adequate mental health services to their citizens. This is a major problem with the continually growing estimate of around 450 million people having a mental disorder. The World Health Organization is now being pressured to review and set standards on mental health, regardless of neither economic standing nor religious beliefs. By focusing mainly on providing adequate mental health facilities, with properly trained staff, and reach to modernized technologies and medications, with a special focus on developing countries, the WHO could bring to light the importance of mental health issues and lead the world on a transformation to the acceptance of mental illness as a serious, but treatable issue.

Mental health has been noticed and recognized for centuries by many various societies such as Greeks, Chinese, the Egyptians, and Native American tribes. Prior to the middle of the 20th century the treatment of those with mental illnesses was extremely poor and in some cases, inhumane. The mentally ill were imprisoned, accused of being witches, exiled from their towns, and even executed. William Sweetzer first used the term mental health in 1843, and it was not overlooked by those revolutionary activists such as Dorthea Dix, or the leaders of the Mental Hygiene Movement. Dorthea Dix brought forth the issue of inadequate facilities to care for the mentally ill, and advocating for them throughout courts of the United States, bringing justice to the care of the mentally ill. The Mental Hygiene Movement advocated for early intervention, prevention, and promotion of mental health. Many involved in this movement believed that mental illnesses stemmed from childhood experiences, and they focused on educating parents about the science behind child development. Up until the 1950s and 60s almost all mentally ill patients were institutionalized by being put in a psychiatric ward of a hospital. During this decade there was a big push for the use of antipsychotic medications and “the move toward community-oriented care. Around 1955, Thorazine was introduced to the world as “the first effective antipsychotic medication”. This led to many patients that were in psychiatric wards being forced to take these drugs and attend therapy, as well as being placed into the real world after being sheltered for so long. Problems now created by this problem are severe drug dependencies in the mentally ill. Many studies and articles, regarding mental health, such as The Lancet Series have been published, but they all essentially state the same thing; mental health is a continually growing problem that requires immediate attention, but low and middle income countries are incapable of providing this necessary attention.

Kenya, being a third world country, does not have very many advanced treatment pathways for mentally ill citizens. The Kenyan society believes mentally ill citizens are insane, mad, possessed by evil spirits, brain diseased, bewitched or suffering from a bad omen. These people are typically isolated from society and are not provided with any life opportunity because they believe they are fully incapable or dangerous. Not only are they treated unfairly, but they are also forced to undergo unnecessary over reaches, specifically cultural over reaches, of the law such as unnecessary exorcisms. Kenya has produced the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2003 which covers rights, rehabilitation and equal opportunities for people with disabilities, but it does not speak much, if any, of mental illnesses. For example, those suffering from social, emotional, traumatic and other mental illness crises (ie. Schizophrenia)are not included in this act, because they are defined as mentally ill, and receive no help by it. This leads to privacy rights in homes and institutions where mentally ill are detained tend to be misused to hide the mentally ill person. This also leads to no special education programs, despite the right to a free education in Kenya, for those that are mentally ill.

I believe that many African nations will feel the same way as I, in the belief that more intervention is necessary for the mentally ill of Kenya. To provide those suffering from mental illnesses in Kenya with a capable life, I believe it is necessary to educate, empower, and provide psychotherapy services for them. Instead of having mentally ill people locked in basements of homes or chained to walls in inadequate institutions, I believe we should put into place one outpatient-like facility per every estimated 100,000 Kenyan citizens with a mental disability, to care for, educate, and provide psychotherapy and antipsychotic drugs if necessary. I also think it is necessary to provide adequately certified and trained staff in these outpatient facilities.

Kenya’s issues regarding mental health should show all countries how far behind we really think we are as a whole world in advancing the concern for world mental health. Kenya is still in the “stone age” of mental health, and needs help from all that are willing to provide help. It has a deceptive program to support the mentally ill, that in all actuality provides no help to those that are self-classified as mentally ill. Kenya also still has mentally ill that are treated as though they are animals, and are locked up in basements, and institutions, but given no help, which just worsens the problem we are currently facing; this provides no support for the WHO’s goal of creating as many healthy individuals and preparing them with the capability and mental stability to contribute to society.

--

Name: Justin Hachey Country: Kenya Committee: World Health Organization High School: Arundel High School Date: 1/31/14

__ The Water Crisis __

Water is the sole support system for all life on earth; plants and animals alike both require water to simply live. Who would’ve ever thought such a simple substance composed of 2 hydrogen atoms and a single oxygen atom would be so important? Unfortunately not all people of the world are able to have this simple substance provided for them, or if they do they run the risk of drinking unsanitary water filled with disease causing microbes. The World Health Organization has been tasked with helping to provide those impoverished people of the world with sanitary, fresh sources of water. The World Health Organization must work with developed countries to help support and share new advances in water technologies with developing countries, particularly developing countries faced with recent/constant severe drought.

Water consumption around the world has been growing exponentially in the past decade as developing countries have become developed, and developed countries continue to consume more water. The current population growth of the world is leading to more and more water being needed to support the world’s population. Unfortunately, the more we use water for the purpose of developing a country’s infrastructure, the more we degrade the resource. We are slowly reaching the carrying capacity of this precious resource, if we have not already surpassed it in some areas of the world. This means that there is less fresh water for the use of the general population of the world, causing many possible preventable problems like poverty and malnutrition. The effects of the over use of water have been felt nowhere more than the sub Saharan Africa, which recently experienced a drought in 2011 that led to the death of 30,000 children under the age of 5. As shown in the past, the lack of water leads to a decrease in the number of crops that can be grown, in turn leading to under nutrition or malnutrition. It also leads to poverty in farmers because they have fewer crops or livestock to sell, leading to less money being brought in each year.

Kenya is a Sub Saharan African country, found right at the foot of the Horn of Africa. In 2011 Kenya was hit by a severe drought, leaving the country with an even smaller amount of water than what was previous had, to be shared between the country’s large population of 36.6 million people. Kenya’s population is currently growing at 2.6% per year, which will lead to the country’s population doubling in just under 27 years. Current urban development has forced Kenya’s poor to live in the slums of areas in which there are no natural sources of water; women and children typically spend a third of their day retrieving water from the closest water source. Unfortunately, this leaves them vulnerable to animal attacks, as well as an increase in contracting water borne diseases such as cholera and parasitic worms from unsanitized water, and old, second-hand water gathering containers. On top of that, private investors have been discouraged from building because water privatization is frowned upon due to the high costs that are passed on to those stricken with poverty, but this leads to a lack of piping, sanitization and tanker services. Also, the Kenyan government does not have enough money to provide water pumping stations for public water and most piping systems are illegally used by squatters. Meaning, a solution to Kenya’s water crisis is necessary as soon as possible to support its rapidly growing population and urban development.

As it is seen, the severe water crisis is the root cause of almost all socioeconomic problems facing the poor of Kenya. First, I believe it is necessary to solve this problem by economic intervention. I believe that the IMF should help to provide Kenya with funds to create water pumping stations, and desalinization plants to provide water for the country. It would also be of greatest benefit to have the poor of Kenya trained and employed by the government to assist in construction of the new water systems. I also believe that it is necessary for the government to put in place taxes on development by those private developers that want to build within the country, to help provide money for the creation of new piping systems in places of urban development. Finally, it is necessary for developed countries to try to consume less of the precious substance that is needed most by developing countries.

The effect of the drought of 2011 devastated many countries such as Kenya. It left Kenya at a severe disadvantage in the current water crisis, and left many adults and children dead or suffering from poverty and/or malnourishment. I am looking forward to sharing how Kenya is in need of assistance to help the country’s impoverished. As well as see what other countries may be suffering from similar problems, and to help the UN achieve their Millennium Development Goals.