The Minister of Health, Ummy Mwalimu has said that the time has come for mental health diseases to be included in the health insurance system so that citizens can get psychological and medical help.

At the First Mental Health Conference yesterday in Dar es Salaam, Ummy also wanted mental health services and professionals to be available from the dispensary level to the national hospital and that there should be centers for these services.

"Why don't health insurance companies agree to cover mental health?

If we allow people to go to treatment, why shouldn't psychological services and other mental health services be covered by health insurance?”

He questioned the Minister of Health.

He said that mental illnesses have increased and world statistics show that one out of eight people has a mental problem, and in Tanzania it is estimated that seven million people have that problem while 1.7 million people have gonorrhea.

He said that the mental illnesses that exist in large quantities are gonorrhoea, dysentery, syphenia, the use of cannabis and alcohol.

He said 1.5 million people are living with genital warts, most of them are women, while there are brutal acts in society and an increase in the statistics of rape and prostitution.

"You wonder if this person is sane, we have seen statistics of children committing suicide and we have been told by the WHO that one death out of 100 is due to suicide, so 50 percent of these cases occur before the age of 50, suicide incidents are the fourth cause of youth aged 15 to 29," noted Ummy.

He said a person with good mental health is believed to be calm in thinking, feeling and how he perceives things in his daily actions and cooperating with society and the workplace.

"There is a relationship between mental health and economic growth at the level of an individual, family, society and the nation as a whole, but there are mental illnesses that affect and bring changes in thinking, feeling and acting and thus have behavioral changes and failing to adapt to the relevant community," he said.

He added: "Without mental health there is no health, but we are afraid we are hiding in the shadow of stigma."

We will listen from the provocateurs, we will look at the health problem in the community, in schools, mental health for children, personally as a minister I have seen that we should break the silence."

Ummy said the problem of mental health is big because now there are many women in their cases walking with blessed water and anointing oil.

"But the flourishing of many strange churches is a mental health challenge," he said.

The Deputy Minister of Social Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Mwanaidi Ally said in collaboration with the Office of the President (Tamisemi), they have built capacity for 73 councils and protection and safety committees for women and children in providing psychological services and services mental health.

The Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Development Services, Stanslaus Nyongo said there is a serious mental health problem in society.