Ghana

Ghana Breaks The Chains On Mental Health

When I picked up the chain that had been tied around his ankle I could barely lift it. It felt like a pile of bricks and made a heavy thumping sound when I dropped it to the ground. It was here, at Nyakumasi Prayer Camp in central Ghana several years ago, where I first met “Solomon” (not his real name), a man in his 50s with a ragged blue cloth around his waist and a thick metal chain around his ankle.

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End Shackling in Ghana

End Shackling in Ghana

In Ghana people with mental health conditions are often considered as being possessed by evil spirits or demons. Due to these beliefs and the lack of local mental health services, some families and communities resort to shackling the person in their homes or in prayer camps. In some camps, people are chained to trees, where they would bathe, defecate, urinate, eat, and sleep, some for years. The government has made important steps to address these abuses, but much more needs to be done. It’s now been 5 years since the Mental Health Act was passed. It’s high time they invested in community-based mental health services.

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