Educating the public to increase interest in psychosocial disability issues to reduce stigma

The Secretariat has engaged the media and the general public to educate them to use appropriate words and language when describing people with mental disorders and epilepsy. This has been done through workshops and seminars for the media on appropriate reporting of mental health issues. Again, through sensitization and education programmes the public interest is generated in psycho-social issues all in a bid to reduce stigma and encourage the integration of persons with mental disorders. Feature articles are also written the print media on mental health issues.

Rejoinders are also written to stories about persons with mental disorders and epilepsy that appear in the media. Some of the rejoinders were written to stories such as “a human rights court describes a raped mentally ill woman an idiot”, “Aids patient pounce on Madwomen” and feature articles such as ”Let the cured mentally ill people vote.”