Cameroon Clears Abandoned Mental Health Patients from Streets
Voice of America
28 May 2021, 00:05 GMT+10
YAOUNDE, CAMEROON - Authorities in Cameroon are clearing the streets in the capital, Yaounde, of more than 300 psychiatric patients whom officials say have been abandoned by family members. The central African state says stress from Boko Haram terrorism, a separatist crisis in its English-speaking western regions and the increase in consumption of hard drugs are responsible for growing numbers of such patients.
Laure Mengueme is the director of mental health at Cameroon s Ministry of Health. She speaks to a group of about 70 people at the central market in Yaounde on why psychiatric patients should not be left on the streets.