Hello Friends

Hello Friends,

The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Centre (CAMHSC) of the Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital,Yaba, Lagos is situated in the densely populated region of Oshodi, in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is the largest Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service Centre in the country Nigeria with a clientele base of almost 15,000 registered cases as at the end of the year 2016.

The centre was founded on the 13th of May 1999 under the leadership of a foremost psychiatrist in the country, Dr Malomo Idowu. The mantle for running this novel centre in the country then rested heavily on another very senior psychiatrist Dr (mrs) Ogun Oluwayemi Cecelia who has run the centre effectively from then up to this day. She has been joined by two other seasoned psychiatrists since 2009; Dr. Ijarogbe Temitayo Grace and Dr. Bello-Mojeed Moshudat both of whom she mentored and trained along with other national and internationally trained and based child psychiatrists such as Professor Olayinka Omigbodun who is the immediate past president of the IACAPAP (International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Allied Professionals) domiciled at the University College Hospital Ibadan,  Dr Cornelius Ani from the United Kingdom, Professor Brian Robertson form South Africa, Patricia Ibeziakor from the U.S., Divan Guari from India and others within the national system like Reader Ikeoluwa Olagunju (foremost Neurologist at UCH), Helen Osinowo (foremost Psychologists at UCH), Olayinka Egbokare
and a host of others to deliver Child and Adolescent Mental Health (CAMH) Services both within our Lagos hospitals and
out in the peculiar Nigerian community. 

Because of the rarity of the CAMH field on the African continent, the centre has often had to embark upon widespread campaign and media outreach to the community to alert the public about child mental health issues. The response from Lagos suburbs and beyond has been phenomenal showing that there is a great need for CAMH services but that the awareness hitherto had been low. This process of public enlightenment has been heavily aided by all the Medical Directors since 1999 since most of them have a passion for making outstanding progress in clinical services and developing community targeted management of cases and research. Their support and drive for excellence in this centre has been very help in the last couple of years for advancing the course of the Centre.

There is a dearth of intersectoral collaboration for CAMH services and poor recognition of child mental health symptoms among the populace. Because of this, the centre has focussed deeply on the training of teachers in regular and special needs schools on CAMH issues yearly. Recognition of mental illness in children by these teacher we hope should encourage referral of these children from their schools to the hospitals. Also on our target are other important stakeholders in early child development hindrance detection services, such as the individuals working at immunization centres, tertiary paediatric centres and the primary health care centres. Some of these centres especially in the rural areas are still usually manned by nurses and community health extension workers. The centre now facilitates the training of nurses from these key centres all across the country in conjunction with their training centres and colleges on yearly basis. It is our dream that in the next ten years, the trajectory effect of these training sessions will make CAMH awareness and the development of intervention services enormous in the Nigerian community.

Our General Medical Practitioners are not left out. They are one of our subtle targets for training. It amazes us so many a-time at this Child Mental Health facility when adolescents contact us for the first time despite having had several previous contacts with their family physicians since their early life without ever having been referred for their obvious mental health condition(s).

The multimodal approach to management of CAMH cases has now been so entrenched within our hospital services such that all the mental health professionals working in CAMH exist under the same roof. This significantly helps to minimize the stress that parents experience while attempting to access the different professionals involved in their child's care. The presence of the multidisciplinary team and the integration of their services under one roof is perhaps what stands this CAMHS Centre tall among other centres in the country.

By far, we are not yet at our desired goal. It is our hope that within a few years, this centre will be able to drive for full intersectoral collaboration of all the major stakeholders involved in child services in the community. This hopefully should give birth to the creation of non existing services like respite homes, dedicated vocational centres for the children, autism training schools and other Special Needs schools, functional and efficient social welfare support services and insurance cover for children seeking medical treatment within the country. We also hope other government and non-governmental agencies will also participate with us to drive for improved CAMH services as well as its requisite legislation over time.