One Psychiatric Hospital for 3 Million People, Liberia Plan for Change

Health organizations and health professionals inside Liberia have asked for years that the government do something about the deplorable lack of mental health care in Liberia. There is only one psychiatric hospital in the entire country, the E.S. Grant Hospital, which is run by Cap Anamur, a German organization.

The hospital doesn’t even have a staff doctor, only nurses, but they do the best they can to provide help to those who can get there. The only other real mental health care is run by Doctors Without Borders, but that’s on a mobile basis, when they can. Other than that, there is only a few small groups that offer rape counseling.

Dr. Benjamin Harris is Liberia’s only psychiatrist and he says that the rise in drug addiction is just going to make the problems worse if help isn’t given. There has only been one real study that has been done on the need for psychiatric services and that involved 1,600 households.

“The figures that have been derived from that study show that about 43% of the individuals surveyed meet the diagnostic criteria for serious depressive illness, major depressive disorder and about 43% for post traumatic stress disorder. So these are alarming figures,” says Harris.

The years of lobbying the government seem to finally be paying off and new hope is coming for those suffering from mental illness in Liberia. The government has begun on a new mental health plan that is being supported by the World Health Organization. The plan will focus on increasing training of new medical professionals, a reform in the prescription drug system and support for community based care programs.

Part of this initiative will include getting at least a few beds set aside for mental health patients in the general hospitals throughout the country. Those who are working tirelessly to help the mentally ill, like Emmanuel Ballor, a counselor at the hospital, says the plan offers hope for the future.