I. COUNTRY:
Mali
II. TOTAL POPULATION:
15,968,882
III. POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS:
(men, women, kids, ethnicities)
·
0-14 years: 47.7% (male 3,824,877/female
3,794,196)
·
15-24 years: 19% (male 1,439,032/female
1,587,072)
·
25-54 years: 26.6% (male 1,980,766/female
2,270,676)
·
55-64 years: 3.7% (male 297,365/female
295,495)
·
65 years and over: 3% (male 240,681/female
238,722)
·
Mande
50% (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke), Peul 17%, Voltaic 12%, Songhai 6%, Tuareg and
Moor 10%, other 5%
IV. ESTIMATED NUMBER OF PEOPLE
WITH MENTAL ILLNESS:
- Neuropsychiatric disorders are estimated to
contribute to 5.2% of the global burden of disease (WHO, 2008)
V. RELIGION / CULTURAL BELIEFS
/ SOCIAL CONTEXT:
Muslim
94.8%, Christian 2.4%, Animist 2%, none 0.5%, unspecified 0.3%
IMPACT OF BELIEFS / SOCIAL
CONTEXT ON PERCEPTION OF MENTAL ILLNESS AND PEOPLE WITH MENTAL ILLNESS:
·
Malian
people disown mentally ill people in their families. If someone starts to have mental illness
symptoms, they are forced out of the house, and since there aren’t a whole lot
of mental health facilities, they generally are homeless or die.
VI. METHODS OF SUPPORT FOR PEOPLE WITH MENTAL
ILLNESS:
- Mental health expenditures by the government
health department/ministry are not available.
- The majority of primary health care nurses
have received official in-service training on mental health within the last
five years.
- There are approximately 5 outpatient mental
health facilities.
- There are approximately 4 community
residential facilities.
- There are approximately 100 beds for
psychiatric care in general hospitals throughout the country.
- According to the WHO, it is unknown what
psychiatric medications are available, how much of each of them are utilized,
and the amount of money that is spent on them.
VII. PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS
Mali is a third world country. The people that live there have to struggle
through daily life more than any of us can even imagine. The life expectancy is about 41 years in males
and 51 years in females. The percentage
of people that are educated is about 47% in males and 31% for females. Having said all of that, how could we
possibly begin to understand their culture?
Not to mention that each tribe has their own belief systems, making it
next to impossible to figure out how they treat their mentally ill as a
nation. I would say this is why there
are no accurate numbers available to represent the number of mentally ill, what
types of medications there are, etc.
VIII. REFERENCES:
It is incredible to read about how other countries view people with a mental illness. I wonder what it is going to take to change the views on mental illness, if ever? I wonder if there are alot more people living with mental illness but not diagnosed. The conditions and treatment of the mentally ill appear to be very harsh and not very tolerant.
ReplyDeleteI think Greece disown people with mental illness still do that today too, or at least used to, I know they frown on it. I wonder their reason behind disowning their own family member and kicking them out of the house for being mentally ill? Is it an embarrassment?
ReplyDeleteIt is so sad to me to read that people with mental illness are so misunderstood and mistreat. And that it is even more so than what we see in America. I cannot imagine living in a country where my rights and my health are not taken seriously. That's bad enough but to be disowned by your own family and community is even worse. My heart goes out to this population.
ReplyDeleteIt really is such a shame that people with mental illness are abandoned by their families. How terrifying must that be for them? It's really unfortunate that they are so stigmatized that their own families and their government will not help them.
ReplyDelete