By Ritah Kemigisa
A study by the Aga Khan University has shown that one in every four healthcare professionals exhibits signs of depression.
Conducted across all 47 counties in Kenya, the Protecting the Wellbeing and Strengthening the Resilience of Frontline Health Workers study also revealed that two in every five healthcare workers show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.
Funded by the Johnson and Johnson Foundation, the research project sought to highlight the state of mental health and resilience of frontline health workers in Kenya.
Dr Eunice Ndirangu-Mugo, Dean, School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa, AKU says nearly 4,000 nurses, midwives and Community Health Volunteers were interviewed between January 2021 and June 2022.
She cites heavy workload, lack of resources, poor work environment, irregular salary payments amongst nurses and midwives and lack of salaries for Community volunteers as some of the key drivers for mental health challenges.
She adds that there’s need to focus on self-care and peer support in combatting mental health challenges faced by frontline health workers.
“However, for the frontline health workers to provide self and peer support, they must be able to identify their own psychological needs as well as that of their peers. Further, there is need to train mental health practitioners who can then be deployed in the health system to provide mental support as needed. These require concerted investments by government and partners to ensure that such mental health interventions for frontline healthcare workers are met.” said Dr. Ndirangu-Mugo.
