Postpartum depression, a serious mental illness that can affect women after childbirth, is a condition that is highly overlooked and misunderstood. Considering that postpartum depression is a treatable medical condition affecting 1 in 7 women, it is imperative that awareness about the condition be more widespread across Africa.
With the prevalence of postpartum depression in Nigeria, and indeed Africa at large, one organization has been leading the way in raising awareness about the condition. Postpartum Support Network (PSN) Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 2015 working to increase awareness about this condition. Through education, screening, and support, PSN Africa is changing the narrative about postpartum depression and is helping mothers receive the help and treatment needed to feel better.
Recently, PSN Africa concluded an innovative and highly successful campaign tagged, Feel Something Say Something 2.0, having secured a grant from the ACT Foundation to educate and screen 2,000 women for postpartum depression across 10 hospitals in Lagos state, Nigeria. Led by Clinical Psychologist and Mandela Washington Fellow, Onyedikachi Ekwerike, the group also trained over 150 nurses and 20 doctors throughout the campaign educating them on how to identify and support women struggling with postpartum depression. The hospitals visited through the Feel Something Say Something 2.0 campaign included: Randle General Hospital, Ifako General Hospital, Orile Agege General Hospital, Island Maternity Hospital, Ikorodu General Hospital, Amuwo Odofin Mother and Child Health Center, Harvey road Health Center, Mushin General Hospital, Ajeromi General Hospital, and Gbagada General Hospital.
Given the general misunderstanding about the condition, too many women suffer alone. This is why PSN Africa encourages women who feel something to say something. Doing so not only allows a woman to get help, it also provides other women who suffer from the condition a network of social support as they realize they are not alone. Postpartum depression can strike any woman. In fact, recently, two well-known Nigerian celebrities publicly shared their experiences with postpartum depression.
Writer, Ese Walter-Ark, recently shared a personal account of her difficult struggle with postpartum depression in an open post on her Facebook page where she described her endless quest for happiness she could never find after her baby was born. She continued to explain that as the depression escalated, she felt she had no choice but to leave her child with her family and flee. On Linda Ikeji’s Blog, it was reported that Singer Bez Idakula’s wife, Bolatito, responded to Ese’s account, expressing too her struggle with the condition after the birth of her son. Bolatito wrote, “This happens to many more than want to admit it. I remember feeling horrible that I was so unhappy. I mean after everything you’ll think my son was going to make me the happiest girl in the world but I was just sad! I was always weepy, feeling like a failure, questioning everything about me.”
The experiences reported in these two accounts are not uncommon among women suffering from postpartum depression. PSN Africa strives to continue doing the vital work of raising awareness about this condition in order for more women to realize they are not alone and that with proper support, they can feel better.
Do you think you, or someone you know, may be suffering from postpartum depression? If so, please visit the PSN Africa website, https://psnafrica.com/, for more information, to access a screening survey, and to contact professionals who can provide support. For all those who have suffered or are currently suffering from this condition, remember PSN Africa’s campaign tagline, if you feel something, say something. You are not alone.
credit: Linda Ikeji's Blog http://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2018/1/postpartum-support-network-psn-continues-to-create-awareness-on-postpartum-depression-in-nigeria.html
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