Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T10:54:04.241Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Traditional health practitioners and mental health in Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Marx Okonji ,
Frank Njenga ,
David Kiima ,
James Ayuyo ,
Pius Kigamwa ,
Ajit Shah  and
Rachel Jenkins
Marx Okonji
Affiliation:
Chiromo Lane Medical Centre, Nairobi
Frank Njenga
Affiliation:
Chiromo Lane Medical Centre, Nairobi
David Kiima
Affiliation:
Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Afya House, Nairobi, Kenya
James Ayuyo
Affiliation:
Mildmay International, Kisumu, Kenya
Pius Kigamwa
Affiliation:
University of Nairobi School of Medicine, Nairobi, Kenya
Ajit Shah
Affiliation:
Ageing, Ethnicity and Mental Health, Institute for Philosophy, Diversity and Mental Health, University of Central Lancashire, Preston, UK
Rachel Jenkins
Affiliation:
WHO Collaborating Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, De Crespigny Park, London SE5 8AF, UK, email rachel@olan.org
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among rural and urban Kenyan primary care attenders has been reported to be as high as 63% (Ndetei & Muhangi, 1979; Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983; Dhapdale et al, 1989; Sebit, 1996). For its population of 32 million, Kenya has only 16 psychiatrists and 200–300 psychiatric nurses, but there are just over 2000 primary healthcare centres, staffed by general nurses and clinical officers, and the main burden for assessing and caring for people with mental disorders falls upon members of the primary care teams. However, mental disorders are poorly recognised (Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983) and inadequately treated in primary care (Muluka & Dhapdale, 1986). Moreover, Kenyan primary care workers often lack training in mental health (Dhapdale et al, 1989; see also Ndetei, this issue, p. 31).

Type
Original Paper
Information
International Psychiatry , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , April 2008 , pp. 46 - 48
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 2008

References

Dhapdale, M., Cooper, G. & Cartwright-Taylor, L. (1989) Prevalence and presentation of depressive illness in a primary health care setting in Kenya. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 659–661.Google Scholar
Dhapdale, M. & Ellison, R. H. (1983) The frequency of mental disorders in the out-patients of two Nyanza hospitals. Central African Journal of Medicine, 29, 29–32.Google Scholar
Katz, S. H. & Kimani, V. N. (1982) Why patients go to traditional healers. East African Medical Journal, 59, 170–174.Google ScholarPubMed
Muluka, E. A. P. & Dhapdale, M. (1986) District focus: management of psychiatric disorders in general practice. East African Medical Journal, 63, 562–565.Google ScholarPubMed
Ndetei, D. M. (2007) Traditional healers in East Africa. International Psychiatry, 4, 85–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ndetei, D. M. & Muhangi, J. (1979) The prevalence and clinical presentation of psychiatric illness in a rural setting in Kenya. British Journal of Psychiatry, 135, 269–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngoma, M. C., Prince, M. & Mann, A. (2003) Common mental disorders among those attending primary care health clinics and traditional healers in urban Tanzania. British Journal of Psychiatry, 183, 349–355.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Odejide, A. O., Olatawaru, M. O., Sanda, A. O., et al (1978) Traditional healers and mental illness in the city of Ibadan. Journal of Black Studies, 4, 195–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Olugbile, O., Zachariah, N. P. & Isichei, B. (2007) Nosology and modalities for deciding on the management of patients with psychiatric illness among traditional healers in Lagos, Nigeria. International Psychiatry, 4, 83–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otsyula, W. (1973) Native and Western healing: the dilemma of East African psychiatry. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 156, 297–299.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sebit, M. B. (1996) Prevalence of psychiatric disorders in general practice in Nairobi. East African Medical Journal, 73, 631–633.Google ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (2002) WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2002–2005. WHO.Google Scholar
Zabow, T. (2007) Traditional healers and mental health in South Africa. International Psychiatry, 4, 81–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.