Mental health activists have called for improved service delivery in public hospitals that offer mental health services under the community-based insurance ‘Mutuelle de Santé.’

Rwanda has made progressive efforts towards awareness and addressing of mental health issues by, among other initiatives, easing access to services covered by community-based insurance in all public hospitals.

However, challenges are still present especially in terms of service delivery.

Prince Uwizeye, a Clinical Psychology student and founder of Life Shift, an organisation that provides mental health services, noted that although these services are provided in almost all public hospitals, some health centres are underserved.

"There are mental health nurses at health centres but they sometimes become overwhelmed because they are also engaged in providing other medical services. Hence, they can only get medicines but not therapy sessions,” he said.

"And there is a geographical hindrance for people who want to seek these services at district hospitals –where they can meet psychologists –depending on how far they could be residing,” he added.

Meanwhile, Uwizeye also noted that accessing these services in private hospitals is very expensive as people can’t use community-based health insurance, "on average, one session can cost around Rwf30,000 and one needs at least between five to seven sessions to reach a certain level in the healing process.”

There was also a recent development of a partnership between one private psychiatric clinic and the Rwanda Social Security Board to facilitate affordable access to mental health services.

Dr. Chaste Uwihoreye, Psychotherapist at Uyisenga Ni Imanzi, a mental health organisation based in Kigali, highlighted the need for public hospitals to understand that mental health services come in a package of not only providing medicines but also psychotherapy sessions that require a different set of environment.

He added: "We also need a conceptualised approach to delivering these services. Many of us have studied related courses in foreign languages which often makes it difficult to help patients as this is a service that requires extensive communication.”

Yvonne Uwamahoro, a Psychologist based in Kigali, emphasised on eliminating stigma around mental health disorders which often pushes people to consult traditional doctors instead of seeking help in health facilities on time.

There are different mental illnesses prevalent among Rwandans including depression, PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), trauma, anxiety, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The government also introduced a mental health programme in schools in an effort to address mental health problems early among young people.

At least 20 per cent of mental health patients are children aged 19 and below, according to reports.