Dr. Neccism Okumu, taking students through mental health awareness session. Photo: Ezzy Pixels.
Dr. Neccism Okumu, a medical officer and member of the Afya Care Foundation, says mental health and drug and substance abuse, is a major emerging issue among youths living in border counties across the country.
According to Okumu, the porous borders, family issues, less stringed measures by the government to curb influx of drugs has contributed to drug and substance abuse, easily available to the vulnerable and marginalized group, the youths.
“Mental health and drug abuse is one the emerging issue in youths in Kenya today. As a foundation, we have decided to delve into the issue, and mostly serving in the border counties of Trans Nzoia, Bungoma, Busia, Kakamega, West Pokot and Turkana counties. We are dealing specifically with youths as we have realized this group has a lot of challenges, which has led to influx of drugs from our neighboring county Uganda,” Okumu explained.
He said the school talks by the Foundation is create awareness of the reality of mental health and drug and substance abuse, with the aim of providing the youths on how they can bulletproof themselves from the issues leading to mental stress and drug abuse.
Echoing the sentiments of Okumu, Florence Ngaira, Principal Sabwani girls called on the ministry of education to understand that mental health illness is a reality in the country, following the recent school fires, demonstrations and ill-behaviour among students in schools.
“I would like to urge the government to acknowledge the presence of mental illness among students in Kenya. A section of students in our schools attributed to dysfunctional families, the demands of the curriculum, that have led to constant strikes and fires in our schools. The government should emphasize the need of mental health education in our educational institutions,” Ngaira urged.
Charles Omega Principal St. Barnabas Boys’ in Kitale, reinforced the need of constant awareness among schools, after few of the boys from his school were involved in drug and substance use. He believes that the message reinforced by Okumu and his team was
“We have been having cases of students involved with drugs and substance abuse, and behavioral change among the boys, leading to a drop in performance. This session should be frequent so that we can have a clean society free of drugs,” Omega said.
Calisters Wekesa, founder Afya Care Foundation, said they are planning to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), with schools to make the program a continuous process for it to be impactful among students in schools.
