About 1.47 million Ugandans are suffering from sever mental illness, local media said on Friday quoting a report dubbed "Progress Report 2004-2005."
This figure also accounts for the two percent of the population that suffers from epilepsy, one percent suffer from schizophrenia and three percent maniac depression, according to the report.
KAMPALA, May 6, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) - Uganda has a population of 26.8 million, according to the 2002 national population census.
The report quotes World Health Organization statistics showing that mental illness accounts for about 12.3 percent of the global disease burden.
"This will rise to 15 percent by the year 2020 by which time, depression will disable more than AIDS heart disorders, traffic accidents and wars combined. The impact, both social and economic, on the lives of mentally ill people, their families and communities is phenomenal," said the report which was carried out by an international non-governmental organization, Basic needs UK in Uganda (BUU).
According to Dr. Margaret Mungerera, a senior psychiatrist at Butabika National Psychiatrist Hospital, the number of people with mental disorders is likely to be high because the BUU study did not cover the whole country
The study covered the districts of Kampala, Masaka, Hoima Sembabule and Masindi. Uganda has a total of 56 districts.
"Basing on what we see, the country might even be having a bigger number of psychiatric victims. Take example of poverty gibbering among the people, the northern Uganda war and the changed lifestyle, all these can cause mental disorders," said Dr. Mungerera.
At least 115 mentally ill people in Kampala and Sembabule were cured of mental disorders and discharged during the study.
The BUU study was started in 2002 to determine whether Uganda would be eligible to initiate a mental health and development program.