By Stanley Senya
Accra, May 13, GNA – Transformed Wellness Foundation (TWF) has been launched to highlight mental health issues for prevention and to harness support for the well-being of patients.
In Ghana, it is estimated that about 25 per cent of the population has some form of mental disorder, with depression being the most prevalent.
Mrs Jessica Owoo, a Mental Health Specialist, and Founder of TWF, said mental health problems were largely demonised in the country because of the wide knowledge gap and lack of awareness.
Mental health issues, she said, had received global attention in recent times, and it was estimated that by the year 2028, mental illness would be a leading contributor to the global burden of diseases.
She explained that most adult mental disorders were known to have their onset in adolescence at an average age of 14 years; “yet the majority of these conditions are not detected early for treatment.”
She said the uniqueness of her Foundation was to reform people’s well-being and make them change and pick up a holistic path.
However, according to the WHO factsheet (2018), about 90 per cent of suicide cases occurred among adolescents from low-income and middle-income countries, including Ghana.
Mrs Owoo said the high prevalence and debilitating effect of adolescent mental health challenges made the work of the Foundation imperative to promote sound mental health and to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems.
“It is identified that many of the existing not-for-profit organisations are currently facilitating and augmenting the existing treatment interventions, she said.
“Again, such interventions will reduce stigma against mental illness and also enhance their early identification and treatment.”
She encouraged people to be resilient and talk to key people for solutions, adding that the Foundation was ever ready to help them.
GNA