Mental health in DRC: NGOs plead for a specific law

Kinshasa, May 10th, 2023 (CPA) – A preparatory meeting to advocate to the Congolese Parliament in favor of a specific bill on mental health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was organized on Tuesday in Kinshasa by the Network of NGOs for Action in Mental Health (ROASAM Asbl).

« We met to prepare strategies for advocacy in favor of the proposed law on mental health in the DRC, » Prof. Daniel Okitundu Luwa, national adviser on mental health of ROASAM Asbl, told the press.

Mental health, he said, is the poor relation in the DRC, while the country is faced with several situations that cause the expansion of social and mental pathologies. « It is absolutely necessary to have health legislation that takes into account the aspect of mental health for the well-being of the population and for development, » said Prof. Okitundu.

« The legislation is still silent in the DRC regarding mental health. This is why ROASAM has drawn up a draft law on mental health that we must submit to Parliament to be adopted and then promulgated, in order to provide the country with a law on the organization of this branch of health, » explained the national coordinator of the Network of NGOs for Action in Mental Health, ROASAM Asbl, Professor Ally Ndjukendi Omba. ROASAM is supported in this process by the international NGO OSISA.

This Network deplores the fact that the framework law setting out the fundamental principles relating to the organization of public health in the DRC, promulgated by the Head of State in 2018, has no title or chapter on the mental health sub-sector.   The DRC does have a Neuro-Psychopathological Centre (CNPP) in Kinshasa and a National Menta Health Program (PNSM) within the Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene and Prevention. However, ROASAM notes that mental health projects are neglected or in need of improvement. For several decades, there has been no specific national budget for this health sub-sector. ACP/

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