UK report on recent visit to Ghana
Saturday, March 12, 2011 at 9:08AM 
Left to right: Emmanuel Okyere (Programme Lead, CMHO), Mark Roberts (Project Lead - UK), Peter Adams (Resident Lecturer, CMHO & MAP), Emmanuel Ofori (Programme Lead, MAP)
Three UK Project members have just returned from a week in Ghana. For two of us, it was our first time in this incredible country.
The visit allowed us to meet with many people, including students on our programmes, tutors, preceptors, programme leads and prominent psychiatrists in Ghana. It was invaluable as it helped us understand how the Project is progressing; we were able to collect useful feedback and we saw first hand some of the challenges facing mental health provision in Ghana.
We spent time in Accra (the capital of Ghana), Kumasi (its second city) as well as Cape Coast and of course Kintampo itself. We visited two of the three psychiatric hospitals in Ghana - Pantang hospital in Accra, and Ankaful hosptial in Cape Coast. The overworked staff, large patient numbers and lack of psychiatrists reiterated the urgent need for more mental health workers across the country:
"Right now we have so few CPNs [community psychiatric nurses]. So if patients come to Ankaful, we treat them but then send them back to the community and cannot follow up."
- Dr Armah-Arloo - Psychiatrist and Medical Director, Ankaful Hospital
Dr Armah-Arloo
A significant challenge for the project to overcome is the lack of learning materials available to our students. During our visit to the school in Kintampo, we delivered a number of books, but as one student told us, there is still much to do:
"Accessibility of books is not good. Sometimes, we come to the library and someone else is using the book - there is only one copy, so we have to come back later. More textbooks would be perfect."
- Gideon Kwakye, CMHO student
Gideon Kwakye
We also saw firsthand how tasks we take for granted in the UK are a big challenge in Ghana. There is extremely limited access to internet services, so email communication is by no means guaranteed. The quality of roads in Ghana are frequently very poor, making transportation difficult and time consuming (there is no rail network in Ghana). The sheer lack of funds available to mental health services make any small improvement a very difficult task.
Despite the obstacles, the students, staff, and psychiatrists we met from across Ghana had some very positive things to say about the Kintampo Project, and the CMHO and MAP programmes.
"I am very pleased with the Kintampo Project. It is a very important initiative, and it’s innovative too. The project’s implementation has gone according to time and estimation – which is very important. From my experience with the MAPs so far, my expectations have been fulfilled. They have zeal, they have enthusiasm. This is part of the Project’s impact on them. It’s a great achievement, to have come so far.”
- Dr Anne Dzadey, Psychiatrist, Pantang Hospital.
Dr Dzadey
For the UK members who were involved in the visit, we were bowled over by the warm welcome we received by everyone we met, and would like to thank our Ghanaian hosts for their hospitality and friendliness.
