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General News of Friday, 18 May 2007

Source: GNA

Childhood mental disorders to rise

Accra, May 18, GNA - Childhood mental disorders will rise by over 50 per cent globally by 2020 to become one of the five common causes of morbidity, mortality and disability among children.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), mental health problems in children were becoming common with some of them experiencing depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic, post-traumatic stress phobias, attention deficit hyperactivity, eating disorders and manic depressive illness.

Mr. Joseph Osafo, a lecturer at the Psychology Department of the University of Ghana, said this on the second day of the Ghana Medical Association's Eighth Annual Public Lecture under the theme: "Home Environment and Health" in Accra.

The annual lecture was to provide a platform to enable stakeholders deliberate on issues that affect the environment and determine one's state of health.

Mr Osafo who spoke on the topic: "Psychological/Mental Environment for Growth" explained that the period from birth to the age of 12 years of every child was when many physical, emotional and intellectual changes occur.

The environment the child is born into either enhances normal growth or exposes the child to all possible developmental or mental health problems.

He said though the family was the first unit a child was born into to offer the needed support, "the increased stress and fracturing of the life today make it difficult for children to receive quality support in the home that count towards the development of health mental life". He mentioned other risk factors in the home that expose the growing child to mental problems as severe parental discord, parental depression, stressful life events, economic hardships and lack of parental attention.

Mr Osafo urged parents to create the right environment for the child's mental health by vaccinating them against measles to prevent neuro-behavioural complications, practicing safe sex and maternal screening for the prevention of syphilis and HIV, which also have neuro-behavioural manifestations.

Showing them unconditional love and giving them the needed attention, encouraging them to develop their social skills, taking active interest in what the child enjoys doing in school and encouraging children to talk about what is happening in their lives would also help address mental problems in children.

He called for a mental health policy to address the developmental needs of Ghanaians and map out strategies to curb debilitating psychological factors that can disrupt health mental development of children.

Mrs Gladys Peprah Boateng, Chief Dietician of the 37 Military Hospital, speaking under the topic: "Nutrition-Common Practice and Health" said over-consumption of food accompanied by relatively sedentary lifestyles could result in obesity and pose an increased risk for major health problems.

She said the choice of food should be based on the various food groupings such as energy, body building and protective foods whilst timing of meals should be taken into consideration. Mrs Peprah Boateng cautioned that handling and preparation of food should be done in a manner that would ensure safety and maintenance of the integrity of nutrients to ensure maximum benefits. "Proper nutrition education coupled with behaviour change is critical to adopting the right practice that will impact positively on health", she added.

Dr Francis Adu-Ababio, President of the Ghana Medical Association, said avoidable home injuries such as burns from boiling water or food had children as the main victims, yet, "we do not take preventive measures to protect the vulnerable in the homes".

He noted that "environmentally mediated" disease burden was much higher in developing countries than in the developed world and called for better management of the environment which came up for discussion under the seventh Millennium Development Goal.

"Since the home is a projection of our environment, it is obvious that by improving our homes, our health status would be improved," he said. 18 May 07