About 2.5 million Lagos residents have been found to be suffering from one form of mental illness or the other, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, has said.
He said this at a news conference to kick start the World Mental Health Day on Tuesday, which has as its theme, “the great push, invest in mental health.”
According to him, recent studies conducted by the ministry in Lagos shows that an average of 14.1 per cent of the total population of the state suffer from one form of mental illness or another.
He explained that the illnesses might not necessarily be psychosis but untreated minor mental sickness, which affect the quality of life.
Idris noted that so many people suffer from isolation, loss of productive capacity and underdeveloped human potential, which ultimately lead to gross underdevelopment of the state and the country as a whole.
He said, “we should not forget that a lot of social ills in the environment, such as hooliganism, psychotics and people roaming the streets have some relationship with mental health disorders.”
While speaking on the efforts so far made by the government to address the situation, the commissioner said the present administration had decided to invest in mental health.
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