BUJUMBURA, January 17th (ABP) – Mental illness is evitable. It is an illness like many others. It is curable, according to Nestor Nzitonda, the legal representative of the non-profit association “Humanitarian Mission for Health, Education and Community Development (MIHSED), located in Bujumbura, during an interview with a check by ABP, on Wednesday, January 15, 2025.
Mr. Nzitonda specified that he founded the association with the aim of promoting the well-being of the people. In addition, the association is committed to helping people most affected by various problems related to mental illness.
According to him, the Burundian population does not have the ability to distinguish mental illness from other illnesses due to the lack of information. It is for this reason that MIHSED started by raising awareness among their members so that they can know how they should treat the mentally ill in the community, he said, testifying that they have already helped two mentally-ill people. The latter have recovered and they are doing development activities in their families, he pointed out.
According to Mr. Nzitonda, the community has a big role to play in the healing of the mentally ill because it must inform, educate, communicate and support patients or those who leave hospitals or specialized centers. The stigmatization of the mentally ill has a negative impact on their recovery, he underscored.
He also revealed that the way society perceives a mentally ill person has a negative impact on the health of the sick. Stigma and discrimination affect the mental health of the sick. When you stigmatize someone, you are unbalancing their psychological balance. For example, he said, one of the two people cured through MIHSED was stigmatized by the community beforehand but, after recovery, the person returned to society where some do not understand what is happening while others continue to stigmatize him, saying that he is incapable of doing something, that he is mentally unbalanced or that he suffers from mental illness.
According to him, society has a big role to play in the cure of the mentally ill. He also discussed some of the reasons why the mentally ill are not treated. These include the lack of awareness, he said, adding that many people do not know that a mental illness can be cured. There is also the lack of money to treat these patients as well as the use of traditional medicine, he added.
To address these challenges, he explained, MIHSED plans, this year, to organize awareness sessions in the community so that the Burundian population can understand mental illness like they do for other illnesses. He asked stakeholders working in the field of mental health to synergize awareness on mental illness so that everyone knows that mental illness is like many other kinds of illness.