Okonji Marx, Njenga Frank, Kiima David, Ayuyo James, Kigamwa Pius, Shah Ajit, Jenkins Rachel
Consultant Psychiatrist, Chiromo Lane Medical Centre, Nairobi.
Director of Mental Health, Ministry of Health, Afya House, Nairobi, Kenya.
Int Psychiatry. 2008 Apr 1;5(2):46-48. eCollection 2008 Apr.
The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity among rural and urban Kenyan primary care attenders has been reported to be as high as 63% (Ndetei & Muhangi, 1979; Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983; Dhapdale , 1989; Sebit, 1996). For its population of 32 million, Kenya has only 16 psychiatrists and 200-300 psychiatric nurses, but there are just over 2000 primary healthcare centres, staffed by general nurses and clinical officers, and the main burden for assessing and caring for people with mental disorders falls upon members of the primary care teams. However, mental disorders are poorly recognised (Dhapdale & Ellison, 1983) and inadequately treated in primary care (Muluka & Dhapdale, 1986). Moreover, Kenyan primary care workers often lack training in mental health (Dhapdale , 1989; see also Ndetei, this issue, p. 31).
据报道，肯尼亚城乡基层医疗服务就诊者中精神疾病的患病率高达63%（恩代泰与穆汉吉，1979年；达普代尔与埃里森，1983年；达普代尔，1989年；塞比特，1996年）。肯尼亚有3200万人口，但仅有16名精神科医生和200 - 300名精神科护士，不过有2000多个由普通护士和临床医务人员配备的基层医疗中心，评估和照料精神障碍患者的主要负担落在基层医疗团队成员身上。然而，精神障碍在基层医疗中识别不足（达普代尔与埃里森，1983年）且治疗不充分（穆卢卡与达普代尔，1986年）。此外，肯尼亚基层医疗工作者通常缺乏心理健康方面的培训（达普代尔，1989年；另见恩代泰，本期，第31页）。
