1. KNOWLEDGE,ATTITUDE AND MENTAL HEALTH PRACTICES IN WESTERN KENYA. Presented by Ruth Anyango.

2. GLOBAL BURDEN OF MENTAL ILLNESS World Mental Health Surveys indicate that mental illness account for 14% of the global burden of disease (WHO) Approximately 450 million people have some sort of mental disorder. In Africa, 5% of the population suffers from some mental illness( This is expected to increase to 15% by the year 2030.

3. MENTAL ILLNESS IN KENYA 10-15% of the population suffers from some kind of mental disorder. (13.3%)suffers from Substance related disorders including alcohol dependence. (NACADA 2012) One out of four of every patient reporting to a primary health facility suffers from mental illness. ( Ndetei et all)

4. TREATMENT GAP Up to 75% of the mentally ill do not access care ( WHO MHGAP) The country allocates 6% of it GDP to health against the agreed 15% of the Abuja declaration. 1% of the budget is spent on mental illnesses and most is curative or hospital based. There is hardly any funding for community care, early intervention or prevention.

5. TREATMENT GAP (continued) Kenya has a limited human resource of mental health specialists at less than 100 psychiatrists. Most specialists are located in hospitals and almost no specialized care trickles down to the community.

6. COMMUNITY STUDY COBES program me 21 health centers in Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western Between April and May 2014. Cross sectional descriptive study Interviewer administered questionnaires. Ethical approval was sought from Moi University/MTRH IREC.

7. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY. Limited literature on Knowledge Attitude and Practices of mental health. Potentially increasing cases of mental health in Kenya. Community is not aware of the causes of mental (WHO) illnesses and this is likely to negate the proper seeking of mental health services. J. Liasion et al) Community perceives mental health as incurable and this negates the proper seeking of mental health treatment and hence there is need to reverse this trend.

8. Knowledge assessment 48.5% of the respondents were not aware of the causes of mental illnesses when interviewed. 51.5% of the respondents gave a correct response to the causes of mental illnesses.

9. ATTITUDES Majority of the respondents not aware think that diseases like Tuberculosis and Malaria directly cause mental illnesses. 29.3% Believe that witchcraft and other cultural malpractices are the cause of mental illnesses.

10. PRACTICES Majority of the respondents take their mentally ill patients for treatment to the nearest district hospitals or the nearby rehabilitation centers. 31.3% take their mentally ill patients to traditional healers or to the witchcrafts. 19.8% go for some spiritual intervention. There is no action taken in 19.10% of the respondents.

11. CONCLUSION. There is a significant gap in the knowledge of mental illnesses among the communities in western Kenya. This delays seeking of appropriate intervention hence prolonging the duration of the illness.

12. RECOMMENDATIONS : Traditional healers should be empowered constructively, supervised and continuously educated on the different mental illnesses Create forums for community education on mental illness. The existing health work force in health care delivery system should be trained on mental illnesses and their manifestations.