Mental health challenges and prospects in Kenya
Abstract
Today Kenya has 77 psychiatrists, 418 mental health
nurses and 30 clinical psychologists and a much bigger
number of counseling psychologists for a population of
just below 40 million. Kenya has been lucky in that for
more than 20 years there has hardly been any external
immigration of psychiatrists but internal migration has
led to inequitable distribution of the psychiatrists, with
the majority in urban areas. Nearly all of these
psychiatrists except 7 have been trained at the
Department of Psychiatry, University of Nairobi, the only
institution that trains psychiatrists in Kenya. The number
of psychiatrists currently being trained is just under 20
and a similar number of clinical psychologists; also
postgraduate diploma in substance use, psychiatric social
work and Psychotrauma, all at the same Department.
The same Department has trained and continues to train
psychiatrists and mental health personnel for Rwanda,
Tanzania, Zambia, Namibia, Southern Sudan and Somalia.
There are several institutions, both public and private
that are training on Counseling Psychology at
undergraduate and Masters Level.
Citation
African International Division, Royal college of psychiatrists Volume 5, Issue 1, April 2011Collections
- Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) [10377]