Help Mentally Disabled People in Third World Countries

[Kofi]

There are so many mentally disabled and mentally challenged people in Africa and around the world today. The few 'lucky' ones in developed countries get the love and care they need to develop but the sad thing is that, most mentally disabled and mentally challenged people in third world countries get very little to no help at all. According to statistics, about 90% of mentally disabled people in Africa get very little to no help at all which is very sad. There is a similar problem in almost all developing countries. I was searching for some mental illnesses today and here are a few I found online:

Schizophrenia (Classified as the worst mental illness): There are so many Schizophrenic patients in Africa today who get no help at all. Some are locked up in rooms and left to starve to death while others wander about aimlessly on the streets with nobody to care for them. Not just in Africa. There are similar problems in India, in Pakistan, in Bangladesh, and in almost all third world countries.

Autism: Most autistic children in America and other developed countries receive the love and care they need to develop but the sad thing is that most autistic children in Africa, India, and most other third world countries are sometimes abandoned and left to die. In the picture above a poor African mother Esther Nyaboke plays with her two severely autistic children Veronica and Rebeca:

These children really need help but poor Esther has no money to take these children to the hospital. Because of their severe condition, Esther has to lock them up anytime she goes out of the house just to keep them safe. These children are lucky their beloved mother is still alive. For the unlucky ones with no mothers to take care of them, they are abandoned and left to die.

There are a few mental hospitals in Africa which treat some of these patients but the sad thing is most of these mental hospitals are so expensive that most of these families cannot afford to send their beloved ones there for treatment. Some of these mental hospitals don't even have the medications and facilities to treat patients which is very sad.

Dyspraxia (poor coordination)
Anhedonia (inability to experience pleasure)
Aphasia (loss of ability to talk)
Alexithymia (inability to express emotions)

Some if not all of these and most other mental illnesses are treatable and people in developed countries get the help they need while most in developing countries especially children are abandoned and left to die. In societies where even the mentally sound dies from extreme poverty and hunger, you can imagine the living conditions of some of these mentally disabled and mentally challenged people. Because they have no voice to cry out for help, most are left to die in silence which is very sad.

Most of these people are mentally disabled due to no fault of theirs. Take Esther's children for example, these poor children were born with autism but besides the mother's love Esther shows them, they get no help at all from outside and they continue to suffer all day and night. They are still alive because their beloved mother is there to take care of them but imagine those with no beloved mothers like Esther.

I wanted to know if anyone has come to Africa and taught these families and educated individuals what is called, ABA (applied behavioral analysis)? I am a behavioral therapist who wants to go to places like Africa and teach children and their families a behavioral practice that has been proven the one effective treatment for individuals with autism and other delays by the surgeon general in the US.

I have seen how ABA has been effective as I do work with several families one on one.

Please let me know,

Wendy Richardson
wendyrich7767@yahoo. com

it is very sad to see people going through all these problems all alone. My family will be going to Africa next month and I'm preparing very well so I can make a difference in Africa. I'm gathering some of my clothes and those of my friends so I can give to the poor and the needy in Africa.