Forty-one percent of Ghanaians have psychological distress, according to the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye.

Speaking at a two-day national conference on addressing health challenges in Ghana organised by Christian Service University College in Kumasi, the Ashanti Regional capital, he said one in every 10 Ghanaians has a mental disorder.

While speaking on the theme: 'Addressing the increasing health challenges in Ghana: Exploring diverse perspectives', he said some 16,000 Ghanaians have a severe mental illness and are on the streets.

The country, he said, has only 10 and 19 percent of its staffing needs for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists respectively.

To increase access and mitigate its impact, he said the service with support from its development partners have embarked on capacity-building programmes to promote awareness on mental health issues.

Dr Kuma-Aboagye said the service will continue to build the capacity of private health providers to identify, manage and refer common mental health, neurological and substance-use disorders, using the life cause approach.

He also called for the need to incorporate mental health services into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

For his part, the President of Christian Service University College, Prof Sam Afrane, also said the data on mental health is worrying hence the need for partnerships to help address the situation.