Former President Olusegun Obasanjo (3rd right), inaugural lecturer, Prof Titilayo Aderibigbe (4th left) and her husband, Aderibigbe, and members of their family at the 46th inaugural lecture of Babcock University, Ilisan- Remo, recently.
A Professor of Medical Law, Titilayo Aderibigbe has called for the amendment of the Mental Health Act 2023 to incorporate traditional mental health healers.
She made the call at the 46th inaugural lecture of Babcock University, Ilisan- Remo, Ogun.
In her paper, titled: “Engagement with the Human Body: Searching Through the Prism of Law to Shape the Future,” the don said the amendment of the act would help to expand and improve the nation’s healthcare system.
According to her, while the mental health act seeks to protect people with mental illness from all forms of abuse, violence and torture, among others, it did not take into consideration the traditional mental healers that offer about 80 per cent of healthcare in Nigeria.
Aderibigbe, in a statement by the Babcock University’s spokesman, Dr Joshua Suleiman, explained that research works had shown that most of the traditional mental healers provide therapy that is in consonant with the cultural belief system and with good results and the subsector should therefore be included in the country’s healthcare act and with operations in checks to avoid abuse.
The don also noted that a more practical way to protect the adolescents, who are sexually abuse was to expose the officers who prosecute rape cases in the court to regular training and retraining.
She commended the Lagos State Government for its efforts in addressing the gender-based abuses, calling on other state governments to establish special offices for members of the public to freely report cases of rape around them without fear.
She said doing so would greatly help in tackling gender-based violence at family and community levels as well as the society at large.
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