The burden and inequalities in mental healthcare throughout the world are critical important health issues, and taken together present immense ethical challenges.
Also, one of the key Kenyan mental health policy rationales is to promote the rights of persons suffering from mental disorders in accordance with both the local and global laws. The COVID-19 pandemic, brought to light ethical challenges in relation to mental health that can arise when a health care system is stretched to its limits.
Health professionals, social workers, and the public faced challenges. There has been an increase in suicide rates and or concern at the lack of support for mental/behavioural health needs for mental health patients.
The dynamics of healthcare changed during the pandemic. In low-income countries, these challenges are felt even more due to limited research and increased burden of mental disorders with perceived misconceptions on its cause and treatment.
The rights of persons living with mental disorders translate into ethical issues in the provision of psychiatric care, which relate to the core ethical issues in psychiatry; Respect for autonomy, confidentiality, non-maleficence, beneficence, informed consent and boundary violation. In regard to this, health systems are faced with an important set of challenges: to improve the quality of care equity, relevance and effectiveness in mental health care delivery; to reduce the mismatch within healthcare delivery; to redefine the roles of health professionals and to produce evidence of positive impact on the people’s mental health status.
Why this conference is important
- Bring together major stake holders in the government and policy development.
- Allow the university to enter into the area of mental health space and this conference will help us establish ourselves and connect us with the key stake funded.
- Engaging stakeholders in mental health care is one of the greatest challenges facing researchers and policy makers. Decision-making in mental health research requires engaging people with diverse and conflicting perspectives in dialogues about what is at stake, who benefits and who stands to lose.
- Gaps in the policy regarding Mental Health care and research in LMICs mean that there is less focus on assessing and improving informed consent, communicating risks in research, and engaging communities in mental health research.
- This conference provides participants and stakeholders an opportunity reviews available ethical issues and guidelines pertaining to mental health research and recommend guidelines for best practices and future research
Conference Contact Details:
Email Contacts: bioethics@spu.sc.ke
For enquiries please Contact: +254 722 846 267 (Ms. Susan Wanja)