The Kilifi County government has partnered with Non-Governmental Organisations to construct mental health clinics in select sub counties so as to tackle the increasing cases of the mental illness. 

The move is aimed at ensuring patients with mental illness have easy access to healthcare.

Statistics from the department of health indicated that in 2024 alone the county government recorded 7,000 mental health patients who could not be attended to by available health facilities. 

So far the county has constructed three mental illness clinics together with Basic Needs Basic Rights Kenya (BNBRK) and CBM Global Disability Inclusion organizations who got funding from the Irish Aid.

The three model mental health clinics which are already complete are located in Magarini, Ganze and Kaloleni Sub Counties. 

Speaking at Gotani model health center in Kaloleni Sub County during the opening of the Gotani model mental health clinic, chairman of BNBRK Allan Obingo said that the aim of the projects was to take services closer to the people and reduce the distance covered by mental health patients to get services.

He said together with their partners they have spent Ksh. 850,000 to set up the facilities which will go a long way in providing healthcare services to patients. 

“We are grateful for the partnership with Kilifi County and the people of Kaloleni and beyond infrastructure, we have been establishing mental health advocacy groups working very closely with the county government of Kilifi to talk about mental health issues and the issues around stigma,” he said. 

He said the project is called an inclusive community health project whose goal is to increase access to rights and participation of mentally ill persons to community programmes.

“The walking distance for mental services is more than 25 kilometers and we are working to reduce that,” he said. 

Reports indicate that mental illness patients have had challenges in accessing medication due to the high cost of living and the distance to reach the facilities.

This has forced many patients especially from remote parts of the county to miss out on medication. Wanza Musyoka from Mariakani, a mental health champion, called on the county government to come up with ways that will ensure the costly drugs are available in all public health facilities across the county. 

In her testimony, Musyoka revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar 2 disorder but currently she is at bipolar one level after she started medication.

“What I would like to tell Kenyans is that when they see a person suffering from bipolar, they should not assume it is witchcraft but they should assist the victims to get medication,” she said.

Musyoka said she started her medication six years ago courtesy of BNBRK and the County government and currently she was doing well.

She urged residents to take their affected family members to the mental health clinics so as to get medication. 

Musyoka disclosed that at times the public hospitals run out of stock and are forced to buy a single tablet at Ksh. 80 in private clinics up from the normal Ksh 30.

“Although we buy them at Ksh. 30 at the county medical facilities, we urge that the county government should reduce the price further or even give them for free,” she said. 

Her story is similar to that of Ibrahim Masha from Bamba area in Ganze Sub County who has a mentally ill wife to take care of. 

Masha disclosed that he is forced to cycle all the way from Bamba to Mariakani, a distance of more than 48 kilometers to get his wife medication and attend advocacy sessions.

He said since his wife suffered mental illness he used to visit witchdoctors to get concoctions but she never healed.

“It was until I was introduced to BNBRK that has been taking care of her and she is getting better each day,” he said. 

Kilifi County Executive Committee Member (CECM) for Health and Sanitation Service Peter Mwarogo who was the Chief guest in the ceremony called on residents to make good use of Community Health Promoters (CHP) to ensure that all medical conditions in the villages are tracked and attended to.

He also urged them to make use of UHPs to identify conditions then refer them to health facilities which is a preventive measure . 

“The CHPs will work in collaboration with families of affected persons so that they can also be enlightened on the need for medication,” he said.