September 26, 2019
In Sierra Leone, mental health care is almost non-existent. There are only 2 psychiatrists, 2 psychologists and 19 mental health nurses in the whole country, where an estimated 700,000 people are suffering from severe mental health problems. Furthermore, a mental health patient can be detained in a mental health hospital “so long as he continues to be insane”, as the current law states. In a recent article in Politico SL, human rights lawyer Alimamy Sultan Koroma argues for the repeal of the outdated Lunacy Act (of 1902) in his country to better protect the human rights of mental health patients.