Dear CHIFA friends,
As we are keeping with the celebration of labour day globally, let us have in mind the 287,000 women who died during labour in 2020. ( https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240068759cid=HNP_TT_health_E...).
Let us remember that a great majority of these women come from Low and middle income countries (LMICs).
How many of these women could have been saved with a stronger and sustained investment into their mental health as women and then mothers? Of course Maternal Mental Health or Perinatal Mental Health has been a silent burden.Just like mental health issues in general, invisible! However, according to a recent study, "Common perinatal mental disorders *re the most frequent complications of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period,* and the prevalence among women in low‑ and middle‑income countries
(LMICs) is the highest at nearly 20% " (see https://bmcpregnancychildbirth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12884...).
Cameroon, like many LMICs, has been battling with reducing maternal mortality rates (MMR). Even though it has made significant progress in the past 10 years with a reduction of 34.6 percent in MMR. Moreover, though
MMR for Cameroon is now below the African average, it still remains one of the highest in the world (see
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240068759?cid=HNP_TT_health_...). Could the availability, and uptake of maternal mental healthcare services be a way to reduce this rate? Could investment in mental health generally be a step towards healthier mothers and children?
The building blocks of a mental health system in Cameroon are setting the foundation of a growing favorable context to integrate mental health into primary health care (see 1-
https://globalmentalhealth.ucsf.edu/news/reflecting-four-leaps-mental-he...
; 2- https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00226-7/fulltext)
implying the possibility of mental healthcare services for women, mothers and children.
The growing need to prioritize maternal mental health in Cameroon has been ongoing (see
https://perinatalmentalhealth.wordpress.com/2021/06/17/maternal-mental-h...)
Dear HIFA friends, as we are celebrating labour day today 1st May and World
Maternal Mental Health Day on the 3rd of May let us be convinced that it is our collective effect to support women, and mothers that will lead us to where we want to be. A world where maternal mortality rates will be a
history. Indeed we are stronger together ! #NoMoreDeathsDuringLabour.
Warm regards,
Didier Demassosso
HIFA Country Representative Coordinator Afro region
HIFA Country Representative for Cameroon
Mental Health Innovation Network Africa Knowledge Exchange Assistant
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Didier Demassosso
Mental Health Expert
HIFA Country Coordinator For WHO AFRO Region
HIFA Country representative of the year 2014
MHIN Africa Knowledge Exchange Assistant
Member of the African Evidence Network (AEN)
Cameroon Human Right Fellow 2017
http://www.hifa.org
Tel :(237) 670-14-01-23/694-90-20-29
twitter:@DDemassosso
skype: Didier Demassosso
linkedin.com/in/didier-demassosso
CHIFA profile: Didier Demassosso is a mental health practitioner, Consultant (WHO , MoPH Cameroon...), Mental health advocate , Youth advocate with 10 years experience in mental health development in Cameroon. He is also a health communicator and educationist. HIFA Country Representative For Cameroon/ HIFA Country Representative of the year 2014 / Regional Coordinator for Africa. He also currently volunteers for the Mental Health Innovation Network Africa as Knowledge Exchange Assistant. http://www.hifa.org/people/country-representatives/map http://www.hifa.org/support/members/didier Email: didier.demassosso AT gmail.com
