President Muhammadu Buhari, on January 6, 2022, signed the Mental Health Bill of 2021 into law, according to a report by Premium Times. This comes after two failed attempts at repealing the 103-year-old Mental Health Act.
The Mental Health Act aims to create human rights protection against discrimination in housing, work, healthcare, and other social services for persons with mental health disabilities. Forced therapy, seclusion, and other forms of confinement on mentally-ill people will also be prohibited in mental health facilities.
The newly signed bill replaces Nigeria’s 106-year-old mental health statute, which was first passed in 1916 and was later updated in 1958 to provide doctors and judges with authority to jail those who have mental health issues.
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Outdated law
This law was considered outdated by experts and medical practitioners because it used words like “lunacy” and “idiot” to describe Nigerians who, by no fault of theirs, were considered mentally disabled.
The anachronistic law gave magistrates an authority to remand people with mental illnesses or those who made suicide attempts, thereby effectively criminalising mental health problems.
A game changer
But the new mental health law has changed all that. Drug and alcohol counsellors, mental health professionals, centres for substance misuse and mental diseases are all covered by the mental health law. There will also be a National Commission for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Its responsibilities will include, among others, promoting the availability of affordable, protective rights for people with mental and substance disorders as well as accessible mental health care involving both the public and private sectors. It will also facilitate the implementation of proposed mental health and substance abuse policies.
The new law emphasises the rights of people with mental and substance use disorders such as the right to fundamental human and constitutional rights without discrimination, regardless of the cause, nature, or severity of the mental disorder, and the ban on evicting people with mental disorders from their places of residence or employment on the grounds of mental disorder.
According to the bill, patients must be treated in safe and least restrictive environment, get follow-up care and rehabilitation, and have access to psychotropic drugs as well as other biopsychosocial therapies at the proper levels of care.
The mental health law also covers issues such as patient confidentiality and autonomy, access to patient data, employment rights for those with mental illnesses, treatment plans, minors’ consent to treatment, voluntary and involuntary admission of those with mental illnesses, and recommendations to the court for temporary involuntary treatment.
Ending stigma
The impact of the mental health law on Nigeria’s mental healthcare system was discussed by psychologist and rehabilitation specialist Rachel Affiong, who stated that, if implemented, the law would end stigma and discrimination against those with mental health concerns and raise the nation’s level of mental health. Affiong added that by summarising the respect and protection of people with various sorts of psychological abnormalities, residents would be more aware of the depressing effects of stigma and prejudice while taking mental health-related concerns seriously.
“The mental health bill would raise the country’s standard of mental health care,” she said. “Psychologists and mental health advocates have always agitated for a mental health-conscious society. The law which shows a holistic approach to tackling mental health issues would promote this course and prove to all that mental health is fundamental for overall health,” she further said.
She stressed that the bill would also encourage the acceptance of psychosocial rehabilitation services at the community level, which would be a tremendous accomplishment in addressing the nation’s difficulties with mental health care.
The 2021 mental health law also complies with the United Nations’ international standards on the right to physical and mental health, emphasising the need to treat those with disabilities and mental illnesses with the highest standard of physical and mental health that is reasonably attainable. According to this, governments must either provide the individuals in question with the resources they need to develop and deliver these services on their own initiative or ensure they have access to adequate healthcare.