TITLE:
The Alzheimer’s Dementia Patients’ Observed Illness Course and Experience in Ghana and Care Lessons to Be Learnt: A Mental Health Professional’s Perspective
AUTHORS:
Albert M. E. Coleman
KEYWORDS:
Alzheimer’s Dementia, Patients, Ghana, Stigmatization, Discrimination, Human Rights, Dignity
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.14 No.2,
February
28,
2024
ABSTRACT: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and associated dementia patient numbers continue
to increase globally with associated economic
costs to healthcare systems. Of note
is the increase in numbers in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs) including Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, which already face
challenges with their health budgets from communicable and non-communicable diseases. Ghana, an SSA country, faces the problem of healthcare budgetary difficulties and the
additional impact of AD as a consequence of increasing population strata of old aged persons (OAPs) due to the
demographic transition effect. This article uses examples of known patients’ illness courses to give a perspective on the lived experience
of patients with dementia (PWD) in Ghana, living amongst a populace with
a culture of stigmatization of PWD, and a relatively fragile public mental
health system (PMHS) for those with mental illness,
including AD. The lived experience of AD patients is characterised by stigmatisation, discrimination, non-inclusiveness,
diminished dignity and human rights abuses in the face of their mental
disability, and eventually death. This article is an advocacy article giving
voice to the voiceless and all persons suffering from AD and other dementias in
Ghana, whilst pleading for a call to action from healthcare professionals and
responsible state agencies.