Editorial Monday 14th November
Ms. Ruth Sally Kodam, a Senior Midwifery Officer at the Tema General Hospital, says mental health-related issues are common among pregnant women reporting to the facility.
Ms. Kodam expressed concern about the refusal of most women to seek psychiatric help when going through some form of mental health or even when referred.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema, she explained that due to the stigma associated with mental health, people refused to get help, and with time the situation worsened.
She advised women, especially those pregnant and lactating, to seek early treatment when they experience symptoms of mental health.
Some of the symptoms, she noted were crying and feeling sad for no reason, sleepless nights, a feeling of rejection, fear, want to harm the baby, among others.
“Once you start getting symptoms of depression, such as sleeplessness, not being happy for no reason, among others, seek early treatment at the psychiatric departments of the various public health institutions,” she said.
Ms. Kodam said some of the causes include depression after birth because of unresolved issues, including being pregnant when not prepared, not having support from spouse and family, financial challenges, and others.
She advised women to prepare themselves before getting pregnant to be able to handle and carry the pregnancy healthily throughout the gestation period, as unprepared pregnancy could push them into depression and other mental health issues.
The Daily Searchlight believes that it is about time the government considered a policy of providing mental health evaluation among the list of examinations for women undergoing pregnancy.
Pregnancy is a hard condition for women. It is a period, usually nine months long, when one human being has to carry another human being, a dead weight on the body, for long periods, usually nine months.
For nine months, the second human being lives and depends fully on the first one. All liquids, solids, and nutrition are taken by the second human from the first.
In this situation, the carrier undergoes many physical stresses, often unhealthy for the primary carrier. And lack of full health often has a deleterious effect on the mother, which can lead to mental pressures.
It is for this reason that the Daily Searchlight believes that it would inure to the health of the nation if the provision were to be made for psychiatrists and mental health experts to also have a regular opportunity to consult with pregnant and lactating mothers.
We, therefore, believe that the concerns of Ms. Kodam should be given very serious consideration by the government and policymakers.
(This article was first published in the column EDITORIAL of the Daily Searchlight on Monday 14th November 2022. The Daily Searchlight appears on the newsstands of Ghana every working day and PDF versions are available for sale online twenty-four hours a day all day throughout the world on www.ghananewsstand.com)
