14th June, 2014
The Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) University of Ibadan, on Friday said it would celebrate its 13 pioneer outstanding students in the Masters category on 16 June.
Olatunji Oladejo, Director, Directorate of Public Relations of the institution, said in a statement made available to journalists in Lagos that CAMH was first of its kind in the sub-Saharan Africa.
Oladejo said the special convocation, scheduled to coincide with the Day of the African Child, would focus on the role of all stakeholders involved in upholding the rights of the African Child.
The director said the programme, which would hold at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, would renew stakeholders’ efforts toward eliminating the obstacles to the realisation of these rights
According to him, various accounts indicate that many children in sub-Saharan Africa face a life of poverty and insecurity among others.
“These factors hinder their ability to develop into healthy adults, live an improved quality of life and fulfil their life aspirations.
“Until recently, virtually all social and health interventions for children had focused on the major causes of mortality.
“They had neglected mental health issues and social problems that have serious consequences for children’s growth and development, and the society at large,” the director said.
Oladejo said that despite identified burden of mental health problems in children, there were few services for child and adolescent mental healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa, including inadequate manpower.
He said there were irregular and uncoordinated health professionals for children and adolescent mental healthcare, until recently.
“John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation provided funding to bridge this gap in mental healthcare for children and adolescents at UI, to establish a Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health,” he said.