EMOTIONAL ILLNESS IN A PEDIATRIC POPULATION IN NIGERIA

In a survey of 500 children aged between 5 and 15 years in a small rural community in Nigeria, 15 per cent were found to suffer from mental morbidity. Disturbances of emotion and conduct disorder constituted 67 per cent of total morbidity detected. Children from disrupted families (due to divorce, separation, and widowhood) were found to be significantly more likely to suffer from psychiatric morbidity. The need to train primary health care workers, and for them to work closely with families and school teachers in the provision of community mental health care services for children in the rural communities of developing countries is emphasized.